The Lost World
My pessimistic view at working from home
I am starting to write this article on my dining table at 2.40 am. Which I will finish sometime later. If I had a chance to look at my schedule before we were locked out of the office space, I sure did have time to write more blogs, play more and do some working out.
The day starts at about 7 am. I would get ready with my wife and leave to work around 8 am. We work at the same place and the drive is just about 15 minutes. We sit at the desk at 8.30 am with green tea to start the day’s work. We would mostly have little snacks to skip lunch, which we will happily compensate with a not so light dinner at home. We would leave at the latest 5.30 pm on a normal day. Worst case scenario would be 8 pm if we’re facing a deadline. We would reach home before 6 pm or 9 pm, which in summer leaves us with 2 hours of good sun for some walk or cycle in the tracks. Later at night my wife and I would play some video games and end the day with a TV show episode before midnight happily.
The university where we work was closed for all staff except maintenance/essential staff due to COVID-19 situation. The general public is advised not to gather or roam unless for essential requirements.
Since then the work cycle changed in a way that pushed us to grow a very unhealthy way of life full of misery. We would get up around 9 am in the morning, start work by 10 am. It would be 3 pm before we realise we were hungry. We would quickly jump to prepare the meals and have some early dinner at about 6 pm. If something about work in progress bothers our minds, we won’t be hesitated to work a few more hours. We would stay until midnight in front of the computer messing with the work.
The day would not end. We will not give up without some TV time. After just about a few episodes in some TV show, the time is 3 am the next day morning. Gosh! We’re exhausted. In a few days time, it was not possible for us to get ourselves out of bed on our routine times as we were too tired of late-night work in front of a computer monitor. The getup time got delayed by about 2 hours and time to bed shifted by at least 4 hours. We would wake up tired and thirsty like a hangover.
Within a few days, we began to get up around 11 am or even 12-noon latest. We would start work immediately. Lunch would become dinner, and inevitably we are missing a meal. Despite everything we are so focussed on our work, that I can easily log 12+ hours in front of the computer. It was not long after the stay home days I started to have blurred vision in the night.
Now we cannot pass a day without either working or worrying about work. I start writing this article after I just passed a deadline alive. Colleagues would ease themselves for work discussions without time barriers and there is no way that one might avoid such online meetings (unless they get COVID-19).
I use to believe that working from home was the future and I might really like it. But it destroyed the fine line we had between work and life. The life that made us feel alive. We are putting up weight without even eating properly. We are working out of obligation and stress.
One way of getting out of the stressful situation would be to eat, cook and do some gardening. Yet out of the few minutes of joy, the next destination would be the computer and work. That does suck!
Maybe we started it wrong. Maybe I should have stopped work right at time that I used to do. Breaking the line messes the synchronization of work between all colleagues and put everybody under huge work stress.
Now the COVID-19 restrictions are getting eased. People are allowed to walk outside, do some stretching and do some limited shopping (At least where I live under restrictions).
It is already close to the sun rise. The next day will not be the same. I shall make sure the meetings and work-related things are back on the schedules I had. No email shall be replied or even seen beyond the work hours.
After all, working too much is a compromise on quality and a huge destroyer of motivation and joy of work. Apparently the joy or the privilege of working from home is not granted. It must be achieved. The balance could be of the essence in these difficult times.
Stay healthy, especially mentally. Cheers!
