OT - Working from Home Struggle is Real
Y'all, I'm hitting my breaking point with working from home. Really, last Monday began my downward decent into inner turmoil.
For those unaware, my office building had a major water catastrophe that closed the building in late summer. We were slated to be moved back in sometime in the next two weeks, but the damage was worse than anticipated. So now I'm working from home until January.
Great, right? Nope. Since we are eventually moving back, we only got access to basic office supplies. If I need to print something, I have to drive 35 minutes back to the business campus to do it. I'm having to be very careful with how I schedule my days so that I don't forget something, otherwise it's a minimum 70 minutes out of my day to do the thing I need to do.
Plus, being apart from my coworkers is leading to a lack of communication. Two people will talk, then I end up with a new assignment after they chat because they decided it was a good idea but one of them who decided it was a good idea isn't around to do it. That means new assignment for me with little consideration for what is already on my plate.
I am also the kind of person who needs a split between work and home, and they are starting to bleed together. On weekends, I don't want to be home because it feels like work. I'm not getting cleaning done because I look around and just see more work.
I'm starting to crack, and with winter coming, I'm terrified I'm going to end up back being depressed. My anxiety is already ramping up, and sleeping through the night is getting more and more difficult. I'm just not doing well in the least bit.
Silver lining: there is a shared workspace opening, and I'm really tempted to look at prices to join for a few months. It would get me back into a routine, and I would have local access to a printer, meeting space, a desk, etc. I just hope it's not too expensive, because the local busy Starbucks and deathly quiet library are not working.
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Working from home
HI -- I work from home too. My office was nice to supply me with good computer, two monitors, but I bought my own printer. It did not cost much, and really worth it.
Try to encourage your group to have brief weekly status calls with a dial in.
I find office and home "bleed" together too, but I am grateful for work from hom.
Thanks.
Thanks.
When I say printing, I'm talking hundreds of sheets. We provide training, so it's a lot of paper evals, Power Points for notes, handouts, etc. I have a small printer that I can do little jobs on, but each of us had a high-capacity printer. I don't want to spend $300+ on a color printer like that, with cartridges. And we have a non-compete clause with the campus printing service, so I can't go to Kinkos or Staples unless I want to be out the cash for print jobs.
We do meet weekly to discuss projects. That helps, but still not ideal.
I'd be grateful to work from home if this were something that was planned. We will eventually get back into our office, so we aren't allowed to order any new equipment. However, all the equipment we have has been sent off to storage and we can't access it. My house doesn't have an extra room for an office, so I am in my living room working everyday. I think I would feel different if this were a planned event versus a bandaid fix to a major catastrophe. And since our program is low priority, we're the last group to get to move back in, which means 6 months without anything more than a laptop and basic offic supplies at home unless I want to spend my own money on it (which I don't).
Printing
Can you email your handouts, etc, to the campus print shop? Maybe set up a schedule so that everyone coordiantes pick up , etc.
We can for some things, but
We can for some things, but they are on a backlog at the moment because of all of us that were displaced from the water issue. And we are "low priority" so we can get bumped if something else more pressing comes along. We have used them recently, but without a week's notice at minimum, we can't get our stuff (and we aren't currently running with that week's extra time because of the flux).
It's just draining at this point. Simple tasks take longer, and our to-do lists keep growing. It's the psychological impact of being in flux. It's like all those emotions you have right before and after moving, where nothing is settled, but it's everyday with no definitive end point. I actually think having a move-in date would help because then we can plan ahead. But as it stands now, there is no set date that we can get back, so we're in perpetual limbo until then.
Lt Dad, what about Skype or
Lt Dad, what about Skype or Lync to have "conversations"? I think it's caca that two people are deciding what a third person should do.
For the time being, is there anything you can do to try and 'separate' your work space from the rest of the house? Put up motivational work posters or cork boards with work docs pinned to them?
Even though you're at home, you could make it a a point to face the day as if you are actually going to the office. Wear work clothes, slap on some war paint, etc.
I actually enjoyed when I worked from home because I accomplished more work AND house work.
Part of the communication
Part of the communication issue is a personnel issue that isn't going to be resolved anytime soon. That's really a gripe in and of itself.
Desk is in an open living room. If I put up motivational posters, I'll stare at them everytime I look at the TV.
I have been doing my routine of shower, dress, etc. I'm trying to add in housework and walking to break up the day. It's just adding to the feeling of flux, though, which ramps up the anxiety, whic leads me to want to do nothing.
It's just hard.
Well, crud and double-crud.
Well, crud and double-crud.
You def need to look into that shared space.
Maybe you should just go someplace
For two or three days, stay at a hotel and decompress, Fine some interesting thing to do, ect. Recharge your battery
DH and I both need that. We
DH and I both need that. We were looking at taking a vacation this week, actually, but:
- BM not having a job all summer killed our bank account because the kids needed stuff she couldn't/wouldn't buy.
- Houdini dog of mine has a lead in our backyard, but she has discovered how to break free, so we need to build a fence ASAP, or put up a dog run of some sort.
- DH's company laid off a bunch of people, so his workload just exploded.
- DH can finally get in for his vas reversal, which meand his vacation time will go to recovery...provided that he can now get the time off to do it.
Maybe by February we'll be able to go somewhere.
Yes, I'm having a bit of a
Yes, I'm having a bit of a pity party for myself. It's just a rough day. I'll be better later.
DH works from home mostly and
DH works from home mostly and goes stir crazy in the winters.
He has a plan for himself most of the time. Work from home 2-3 days a week, maximum. He has a montly membership at a shared workspace in town, which he uses between 1-4 times a month. This gets him into the city and he can also meet with friends easily after he's done working, and run errand. The other days he'll work from a local cafe, library, restaurant, etc. He has noise-cancelling headphones.
Whe he works from home me makes sure to take a break mid-day or mid-afternoon. He'll help me with dinner those days. When he gets super busy his house-cleaning goes into the pits, but I have hired a house-cleaner every other month to help. He makes sure to excercise every day for at least 30 min - 1 hr. He takes Saturday or Sunday totally off of any work, and doesn't work after 9:00 pm. Setting his rules has helped immensely.