Ever since this pandemic began, the amount of time some of us have to catch up on our lives has increased. When I say lives, it is not the job statuses or the things we own but the life we have always lived before placing all these labels on ourselves. It is about the daily routines we create that we do on the daily that paint the picture of our lives. It is about the habits we build to live the life we want.
As a person who has tried for many years to get rid of all the titles or categories that I’ve had given myself (or by others), I felt like this new normal was not going to affect me. When I no longer became an office employee, but a work from home (WFH) employee, it became evident that I was still holding onto certain titles that represented who I was. A part of my identity that I’ve built. An identity that no longer served me had been replaced by a new one.
My life, practically my time, was dedicated to commuting to an office several days a week and to work with strangers who became like another family (with a different dynamic). I had a separate space for focus on work related matters. A cubicle with a space to call my own where no family interrupted and where only the work I created mattered. A space where I could be away from the dynamics of family life. Another self-identity that I only shared with the office society.
But now, even that space has gone. I rarely go to that space now that I am an WFH employee. I am not complaining. It is just an observation that I made that made me realize something was different now. Of course, I will say I feel blessed to have health, family, a job and time. Yes, those are things to be thankful for.
My thoughts are more focused on those of us who have been living life in a separate time and place as opposed to shared time and place.
Now that the WFH life has been getting easier to manage, it still is not with its challenges. It feels like, as a mother, the time is still going by quickly. The separation of home and work area no longer exists. Everything now just overlaps. There is no longer time alone (like in my commutes), no time to sit in my thoughts, listen to music alone and have private conversations. Little moments of self-care that give me a sense of calm and joy.
So why am I stating that there is a sense of more time and space?
From my perspective, the time has been gained because I can choose the times to do things I have forgotten about. Not commuting has built a new sense of slowness in my life and I no longer feel rushed to go somewhere. It feels like I’ve slowed down a lot, but also staying busy. I don’t know if that paradox makes sense. Slowing down but still busy. Slowing down feels like slowing down time.
I feel like I gained some hours to enjoy time with my small children, enjoy the sunset rays entering through the windows, waking up slowly to get prepared for online work, preparing to unwind…and so on. It’s like time has slowed down to help me catch up backwards. I can’t seem to really explain how it feels but it feels like I’ve been given the gift of time. A very precious gift.
Although the work-only space has melted into the house space and personal space, there is still a sense of space, for a lack of a better term. Work has pervaded in living rooms, home offices, bedrooms, kitchens and more commonly dining rooms. There is no longer a place that has been untouched with work. The way I found myself to find space was to always put away my work by day’s end. No matter if it seemed like another chore (I’m an organized person), I still put away my laptop and paperwork in my small organization box. I call it the ‘Work Only’ box. And doing that daily gives me the space I need to also create. I cannot mix the two even though they are both being done on the same desk on the daily. It’s like putting away work on the daily. Literally.
Space has been created because I created a routine where there is only designated work at specific times and setting. I created a system where I work with no interruptions (despite the loud voices of my toddler and partner or my distance learning school child in the background) and get as much work done for that day. I guess some people would call it blocking out time. I am becoming more aware of what I do with my time. I am being selective with what I do with my time and space.
Though there is lots of uncertainty nowadays, the only thing we can do is enjoy the upside of this worldwide dilemma. There is always good in the bad; or light in the dark. We must create new habits and routines to our daily lives. It is a reacclimation of time and space to start new habits to better ourlives. To seek what is we value in time.
Do you feel like you’ve gained some time and space? What are your thoughts on this new life style, if anything has changed for you? What has been the upside and downside? What is it you want to live your life for now?