Home sweet home.
Home is where the heart is.
Home is wherever I’m with you.
There are a variety of sayings about HOME. More so than ever before, we are all at HOME. The State of California is under a “Stay-At-Home” rule to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and most city streets are empty of cars. Freeways are eerily clear of traffic and our cars are parked in our garage.
We saw an interesting article in The Atlantic titled “The Coronavirus Is Creating a Huge, Stressful Experiment in Working From Home”. It details the potentially negative effects for employees who are temporarily displaced from their office to their home. Most of us who are now working at home were not working from home beforehand. We did not sign up or apply for our jobs originally under the assumption that we would be working from home. We appreciate the office lunchroom, talking to a colleague over a cubicle, or the walk from the parking lot to our office. These are a part of our routines and the makeup of our workday.
It can feel oddly personal to talk to your boss or clients inside your guest bedroom where you would normally talk to an aunt, cousin, or friend. The lines between work and our personal lives are even further blurred because of video technology which allows anyone on the Zoom call or Google Meet to see into your home.
How many of us are working from home?
The exact statistic is not yet determined, but our guess is that it is extremely high. Unless you are an essential worker in critical infrastructure where you must be on location (grocery store, banks, hospitals, etc), then you are most likely working from home, on furlough, or temporarily out of work.
Home is a sanctuary.
Home is where we go to rest, celebrate, relax, and enjoy time with friends and family.
Right now, most of us are bringing work home (quite literally) and if you have kids, then school is at home too.
How do you keep home a safe place?
Tips for How to Create Boundaries While Working From Home
It is important to keep boundaries between work and the rest of your life, even if you are a part of the #WFH crew. What are some of our suggested boundaries in your “Stay at Home” world? Take a look!
– Eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner away from your laptop and off the phone
– Pack up schoolwork and your work bag after the end of the day. If your laptop isn’t shut, it is tempting to hop on again to check one last email
– Play music at the “end” of your work day! Your commute home probably used to be your decompress time when you listened to the radio or podcast. Create a “commute” routine so that you can get out of work mode.
– Get dressed for work in the morning and change out of your work clothes at the end of the day
For all of you dreaming of a home office instead of a kitchen counter for a “cubicle”, write those ideas down so that in a few months or years as you are considering a move, you remember what your dream house would have!
