My life in lockdown has become very mundane and one driven by the same routine every day.I feel the enthusiasm to get up each morning draining from me bit by bit. I have to force myself to get up, to shower, to dress myself. I start work at 8.30a.m.each morning after a commute of exactly 23 steps from bedroom , down the stairs to the lounge. I don’t miss the rush hour traffic and the mind numbing slow crawl along the motorway. But I do miss the chats in the bus queue and on the bus.
My office is now my dinning room, my dinning room table has morphed into my desk.This is where I spend the next 8 hrs of my day; firefighting and trouble shooting. I miss my work colleagues a super bunch of individuals. Yes we have a team call everyday and I get to see their faces and hear their voices but its not the same as sharing news, a recipe, a moan , a joke or a story. I work in a large office and there is always something happening so you are never bored.
My morning is broken up by the 12noon home learning session. My son will come and sit with me and the battle of wills commences. His negoigating skills are second to none. He needs constantly refocusing; complaining my computer is making a sound ( I cannot hear), there is a noise outside, who is that walking pass the window etc. Once the hour is finished I am mentally exhausted. I do not need to worry about running over time as my son is a professional clock watcher.I use to teach a class of children and not always the easiest of children but teaching just my own child is the hardest job of all.
Lunch which use to be a solitary affair at work is more so now. At work I had the choice to walk to the centre, museum or sit in a whole variety of places. Oh no not now. Just my home or my garden. At work I was reading but I stopped that too.
Working from home brings a whole new range of things to feel guilty about like putting out the washing, walking to the bin, taking in a delivery.
So the afternoon work session commences until broken by the arrival of my not so quiet husband home. I continue only stopping to grab a quick cup of tea. The trouble is working from home there is nothing to stop you from continuing to work i.e. having to leave for the bus or to miss the traffic.
A couple of weeks ago I felt my home office on my dinning room table was affecting my mental well being. Partly this was due to it always being a visual reminder of work. So we took the decision to create a small office space upstairs in a spare room. Already this has made a huge difference to me. Yes its a shorted commute maybe 10 steps from my bedroom but you can close the door at the end of the day and forget it until tomorrow.
Me, You, Us and Breast Cancer 