Working with COVID-19

Lock-down!

The news that we were under a stay-at-home order really didn’t make much difference to me—at the beginning. Working now is much like the usual working at-home day. I mean, I’ve worked at home for many years as a freelance indexer. We at Potomac Indexing are used to having virtual meetings, so I didn’t think it would be a big change. The only interference I usually have in my work is the cat and carrying on as usual. I’m sure others who work from home had that same reaction—in the beginning.

For the first few weeks it didn’t seem to make a lot of difference; mostly just changed my grocery shopping pattern and was inconvenienced when depositing a paper check in the bank became impossible because the local bank branch was closed due to COVID-19. That was then, but now it is a bit different.

The longer we are in lock-down or living with partial opening restrictions, the more I’m noticing changes. I stay at my computer longer at a time since more things are now “virtual”. Even grocery shopping can require computer time. Some separating activities are no longer in my day or in my week. The trip to the local diner for supper rather than cooking. That quick trip to the grocery store because I need (most likely just want) something to complete what is cooking for supper. Now I’m feeling like I don’t know what day it is. Days all seem to have a peculiar sameness and weeks are homogeneous, blending into one another.

I love cooking, so I’ve always cooked a lot of my own meals using the breaks that I’d take from work. Even though I am doing more cooking at home that still isn’t enough to separate workday clearly from other activities and to mark the end of the workday or the passing weekdays.

Insidious effects

I didn’t realize until now how much I depended on those little errands to break up my workday or to mark the end of my workday in a clear fashion. The end of my week was not marked by treating myself to dinner out—e.g., the prime rib that my favorite diner serves only on Friday evening. In all this homogeneity I’m feeling rather “blah.” I find it easy to become even more sedentary than usual, and that’s a serious problem.

Some of my contacts are apparently having the same issues—the “business day” has lost some of its meaning. Some work tasks spill over into the evening. I’m sure that for those normally leaving the house to go to work this is a striking change that has an even more drastic effect. One of the problems of working from home as always been not letting work take over home time and activities.

Awareness

It took a virtual discussion by a physician on the effects of social distancing and quarantine to make me aware of what was happening. (The cat doesn’t seem to notice the change.) One big thing I learned from that discussion was that there should be something to mark the end of the workday and the workweek as well—always assuming that there is not a deadline looming ominously. Although this should be the same for every day, it is more important now that a lot of routine activities can’t be done as usual.

There should be a point where work stops: something special to clearly mark the change of activity. Maybe that means pouring yourself a glass of wine (or something more potent depending on that day’s work), changing the background music, going for a walk, or preparing and eating a leisurely meal. There’s no doubt that this lockdown is stressful to some degree for all of us in subtle ways. Even though a bit of stress can be good in some circumstances, this is not it. Even we introverts need to look out for too much isolation.

Stay safe, stay informed, but be sure to de-stress too.