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Social distancing, work from home edition

Well, there’s certainly a lot going on right now in the world. This post is a bit of an update, and the first in a possible series about life in the era of social distancing.

Code4lib, COVID, and staying safer at home

Two weeks and a day ago, I flew out to Pittsburgh, PA for the 2020 Code4lib Conference. My takeaways from the conference itself merit a post of their own, but I can’t stop thinking about how much I loved Pittsburgh as a city. My photos don’t do its beauty justice.

Andy Warhol Bridge in Pittsburgh, PA

While news of coronavirus already flooding my inbox and my Twitter feed as I was preparing to leave for the conference, I, like many others, was for the most part continuing with life as usual. Since then, my work has gone from strongly suggested work from home to mandatory work from home to even-more-mandatory work from home, California and Los Angeles have issued shelter in place and safer at home orders, and the frequency with which I’ve heard the phrase “unprecedented times” is well, unprecedented. I developed a cold and fever, and the inevitable anxiety that it was something worse.

There’s a lot to think about right now, but I wanted to start with some thoughts on work-life balance after a week of working from home.

Working from home

I’m incredibly fortunate and thankful to work for an institution that has put the health and safety of its employees first, and to have a job that can be done entirely remotely. One of my roles in the past week has been helping people find the resources they need now that they are working from home. It’s been awesome to see people creating new content to help others navigate the new norm—updating our institutional wiki’s article about Webex, providing tech support over Slack, and sharing work from home tips. For the most part it’s going encouragingly well, despite the occasional Webex mishap.

I’ve seen a lot of work from home tips this week, both from people who do it all the time, and from those who are getting started and building their own new routines. Some of the most common are:

  • Have a separate desk/work setup (or, don’t work from bed!)
  • Don’t work in the kitchen (because you’ll snack too much!)
  • Put on real clothes in the morning (no sweats, pajamas, or things you wouldn’t normally wear to work)
  • Stick to a normal schedule

I see the value of all of these suggestions, and the good intention behind sharing them. Especially for those who work from home regularly, following guidelines such as these can help create work-life boundaries, which is something I personally value. They can also help create a cohesive team when everyone is working from home—being available during normal work hours, for example, isn’t just for your benefit; it helps your team operate as a unit and know when they can count on you.

Still, I can’t help but feel that some of these tips fall flat in the current moment. To start, my studio apartment doesn’t have room for a desk—my kitchen table is my go-to home office, though I occasionally sit propped up in bed as well. The kitchen half-wall makes a nice standing desk, if I want to pretend that I’m the kind of person who actually enjoys working at a standing desk (reader, I am not). While sharing my studio-turned-open-office with my partner is not the ideal situation for full-time work from home, I’m actually doing just fine. I wrote the majority of my college and grad school papers from bed, after all! Why should we assume that comfort and productivity are mutually exclusive?

As for the proximity to the fridge, I have no complaints. It’s a perk to whip up a quick lunch or go back to the coffee pot midday, and even more of a luxury to be able to simmer a pot of beans all day and to enjoy the scent wafting from the oven while my partner bakes his sourdough. When it comes to snacking, I’m balancing exercising both restraint and self-compassion. This is no time to start a battle with my appetite or my body image.

Food is where my schedule relaxes a bit as well. While I still work my typical 7:30-5(ish) schedule, I’ve been taking 15-20 minute breakfast breaks around nine or ten each morning. Rather than rushing to eat before I’m even hungry, I’m taking it as an opportunity to regroup and break up my day in a way I wouldn’t usually be able to. I expect my days to grow even more fluid as my work from home tenure extends, though I’m slightly limited by my hourly status. It’s not that I want to disappear for hours or work late into the evening, but taking a break when I need it (being mindful of when coworkers need me, of course) is a way to be kind to myself while trying to maintain normalcy in a time that is frankly not normal.

Dressing for work is where I really stray from, and take issue with, the Guidelines. Again, for those who work from home always, I can see why putting on real pants might act as a signal that it’s time to get into work mode. But for me? I’m going to revel in working in my comfy pants for as long as it makes me happy. And it does make me happy! It’s a small silver lining to be comfy and cozy in a world that feels increasingly unsafe and unpredictable.

Being kind to ourselves

Last Friday, I was having a rough day. I didn’t even know I was having a rough day until I chatted with a colleague and good friend about taking on new (and possibly important and exciting) work, and found myself unable to just say “yes.” I was overwhelmed and conflicted by the desire to be a part of it coupled with a fear of failure, and a sense that I was losing control of all of the balls I was juggling. Speaking to my supervisor about it, we decided it made sense for someone else to take it on, and when our call ended, I broke down sobbing—disappointed in myself, guilty for letting down a friend, and certain that I was just managing my time all wrong.

It wasn’t until later that I realized it was probably not just about the work. These are unprecedented times. Every day there are new statistics, new restrictions in place. We need to stock up on supplies, but the chaos that is every grocery store in LA does not allow the recommended 6 foot social distance barrier. The cold and fever that showed up when I returned to LA nagged at my mind all week, along with the fear that I or someone I love might still catch COVID-19, despite our best efforts at social distancing, handwashing, and not touching our faces.

For most of the week, work was a welcome distraction from the news, from the fear and anxiety and uncertainty that is so very hard to avoid right now. But that fear, anxiety, and uncertainty make this moment very different from a typical transition to working from home. Above every work from home tip out there, I think the most important is to be kind to yourself. So I’ll finish with a few of my own work from home tips and reassurances:

  • It is okay to be distracted
  • It is okay to need a break. Take a walk. Take a nap!
  • Eat healthily, but remember to nurture your spirit as well
  • Wear what will make you smile, whether that means yoga pants or a ballgown

And please, be kind to yourself and those around you. We’re all just doing our best.