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Work-Life Balance during Covid 19: Did it affect me? What did I do?
08 Dec 2020 Jonathan Herrington

Work-Life Balance during Covid 19: Did it affect me? What did I do?

Work-Life balance has certainly changed and altered a new direction for many. Now that many of us are working from home, our dogs and pets have become our co-workers.

 

 I remember when I would hear stories of co-workers trying to balance out their lives by making the most out of their office time, and putting in long hours during the week to enjoy time on the weekend with family, sports, and hobbies to balance things out.

 

Now that Covid 19 has disrupted our lives and our workspace has entered our personnel space, it seems that working from home has created a new Work-Life balance conundrum. One that needs a sense of a flexible work environment as our office space and our personnel space at home has allowed many to work constantly and has thrown our everyday life out of whack. 

 

It has also affected my life, as I typically worked from an office, and well, my day was very regimented. I would arrive at the office, get my day laid out, conduct my day to day activities, oh yeah, throw lunch in there somewhere, and finish the day strong and go home, only to return the next morning, and repeat this for the week.

 

Now that I am working from home and have set up a replica office, like the one I had worked in, I had to build up a new work routine, and try to mitigate distractions, like the TV, the dog, my significant other, while she was working at home, and the constant checking for new emails, even after the day was done, knowing the computer was just 1 room away. Ironically I swear I would almost hear it calling me to check the incoming emails, send one more email out or finish up one more thing.  

 

What did I do to elevate stress? I created a flexible work environment. I also included a regimented workout before I started my day to clear the cobwebs out and get my blood flowing to start my day. Every other day I would walk the dog to split up my day in between the calls, emails, and follow-ups to clients. There is no TV while I am in the office, so I am not limited by distraction. I also set times that I would dedicate to the office.  

 

I set these parameters for my work environment to coral my “A” type personality, that being shared, without these parameters, I would want to work constantly.  Although, I still do check my email occasionally at night, or before I go to bed, and I will plan out my next day knowing that the next day will begin in just a few short hours, and on the weekend. I do send out a random email knowing that my office is just in the other room, but I am working on the balance that I need to survive the Covid-19 pandemic and the changes that are in front of us to eke out a work-life balance.