Working from home

Whenever people ask me about work and I tell them I work from home, their response is some variation of, ‘omg you are so lucky!’ And when I first started working from home, in September 2016, I was over the moon about it. I was discovering the joys of working in my PJs, from bed, while stuffing my face with unhealthy snacks.

I haven’t asked people who have never worked from home what they think it’s like, but I’m assuming these are included in the package

• Not having to wake up at some ungodly hour to go to work
• Not having to sit in traffic for hours
• Not having to deal with annoying coworkers
• Not getting tangled in office politics
• Working in the nude and not having anyone know

At first, it worked a bit like this. The magazine we were working on was new so we were still figuring out deadlines and how to get things done. We were used to working at an office. We couldn’t wrap our heads around how to get the same work done without ever meeting the people we work with.

So, for those first few weeks, I was in this place of bliss. When people said, ‘you are so lucky!’ I could and would respond with, ‘I know!’

Of course, this was short-lived since I soon realized that working from home isn’t as con-free as I thought it was. So now, whenever people tell me I’m lucky to be working from home, I want to scream at them and tell them that it isn’t all fun and games.

So let’s look at why working from home can drive you insane and what you can do to not go insane. Before that, here’s a much needed warning in this day and age. I can’t generalize my experience. The experience of working from home depends largely on the home you work from and the kind of work you do. But this is how I maintained what little sanity I have during these two years.

It’s not as fun

Before you label this a first world problem smh, please understand this. Working from home isn’t all fun and games. It’s exhausting. It makes you feel less human. It makes you feel like you’ve been shipped off to Pluto. At one point, I was actually craving the unnecessary drama of working at an office among other people.

Now I know that you always have the option of taking your work to a café or shared office/work space but with the paycheque I get, those were never options. So I had to be at home, and it could get really bad.

Working from home sometimes felt like being shut in a box. You kept moving around in this limited space. There was no one to talk to, share your thoughts with. Through a small hole in the box, you would see people going out with their colleagues, having fun. Discussing where to buy lunch from, going for a drink after work. And you sat in your box, alone.

You would hear a noise and you can never be sure if you’d made the noise, someone from the outside had or if your brain was playing tricks on you.

Days just merge together. The laws and systems within which the world operates no longer applies to you.

It’s like jumping into a pool expecting clean and clear water but finding the pool is filled with nothing but sludge. So I needed to make a few changes to my life. And these are what I found to be helpful to me, so please don’t throw potatoes at me because these didn’t work for you.

Company

My first job was at the school library. It would get really quiet at times but when a class had their library period, I’d suddenly be in a room full of kids. My second job was at a busy and loud office. Mondays were slow and quiet days when most people had a day off since Saturday was a work day for some. I used to look forward to Mondays simply because I didn’t have to be around a lot of people. My third job was at a company that had maybe 10 employees. This number would have been perfect if only the office space was bigger. It felt cramped.

After all this, getting to work from home felt amazing. With just one other human at home during weekday mornings and afternoons, I basically had the house to myself. But the silence that filled every corner of the house started to drive me crazy. I was never one to listen to music but now I usually have something or the other playing just to drive away the eerie silence.

The solution is having company. In my case, it has been cats. Cats make great friends because they will sleep all day and not bother you that much, but they’ll also stay extremely close to you so that you don’t feel too lonely.

While working, I would talk to the cats, rant to them. When I was feeling bored or lazy, I would procrastinate by watching the cats play or be cute. The only con to cats is this: They can be a huge distraction because you want to spend all day hugging them and showering them with love and attention.

Deadlines

Because I didn’t work alone and had to send work to someone or the other by a certain time, I had to stick to my deadlines. But it wasn’t easy. Pushing yourself to sit down and get work done is a real challenge. I’ve wasted countless days in bed, unable to push myself to get work done.

My solution to this was to set fake deadlines and freak out about them. Convince your brain that the fake deadlines are the real ones. Have to send content to X by Saturday? Well, it’s actually Friday afternoon so hurry up. You will most likely miss your fake deadline but you can still meet your actual deadline.

Avoid the bed

At one point, I used to work from bed. This was mostly because I didn’t have a proper place in the house to work from. My mother then got me a desk and chair and set up an ‘office’ for me. This meant that I no longer lay in bed, pretending to work.

Always avoids beds when working or even studying. It’s so tempting to take a break and just sleep. Have a set place to work. Keep your laptop and notebooks there. Keep it as distraction free.

Make plans

I was never a social creature. I dreaded it when friends made plans. But working from home changed that. I’ve made a handful of friends during these two years and they have managed to get me to leave the house every now and then. If you can afford it, do make it a point to go out once a week. You don’t need to spend 6,000 rupees on each outing. There are so many inexpensive options.

Sometimes even taking the bus helps. You get to be around people, not feel as detached from the world. When you are at home day after day, you slowly turn your house into a prison. You can leave but you don’t want to. Your daily routine becomes bed to work to bed to work.

I started going for yoga classes around the same time as I started working from home. The classes helped me keep track of what day of the week it was. They made me stretch my legs, leave the house.

Having an activity like this really helps. I have trouble leaving the house. I will make plans, even get dressed and then have my brain give me a thousand and one reasons why I should stay at home. When it comes to plans with a friend or an event or something you were going to do by yourself, it’s easy to cancel plans*

But when you have an activity that has set dates and times, you just have to go. You can push yourself to leave the house.

Exercise

I won’t deny it, I’ve gained a lot of weight since working from home. Yoga helps with stretching and meditating but not losing weight. This is mostly because I don’t practice as often as I should and also because I spend more time eating, sitting in one place and not exercising. Weight is a personal thing. For me, gaining weight isn’t the problem but the fact that said weight gain is limited to my tummy area.

I need to work on having a flatter tummy or I’ll need to look into wearing maternity clothes –you know those pants with the elastic waist? Ya, those.

Hobbies

These past two years, I’ve failed at maintaining my blogs or completing any challenges I set for myself. I wanted to post a doodle a day this year but never got around to it. I’ve wanted to write a story, but never got around to it. But I know that if I can stick to some sort of daily challenge that isn’t as tough as work, I can get my life back on track. I can keep track of what day it is and the work I’ve been doing.

When it feels like you are falling deeper and deeper into an abyss, you can’t wish for a miracle. There isn’t a rope suddenly tied around your waist that connects you to the edge of the cliff. There is no parachute to slow down your fall. All you want are small branches and edges to hold on to. Make your way up again, even if it takes you a very long time. Finding these branches can be tough and scary, but you need to listen to your body and mind. What is best for you? What works for you?

When you figure it out to some extent at least, things start to settle down a bit. You can then take time to see how you can stay sane while working from home.

*Cancelling plans is a messy thing. You shouldn’t cancel plans but sometimes you need to. Try to make your friends understand that cancelling plans isn’t about your relationship with them. I’ve had to cancel plans because of sick pets, general tiredness, illness, and my friends have understood. Be honest with them. Say that you aren’t going through the best of times and simply can’t leave the house or be around other people.