Can you even tell the difference anymore?
For most of the past two years I have been working my business out of my home office.
As time goes on, the dividing line between “HOME” and “WORK” becomes a blurry mess.
Years ago, when my children were small, I had a clearly defined end of my workday when I walked out of the office and drove to my home. I listened to Howard Stern and cracked up. Arriving home, it was time for hugs and kisses, homework, dinner and bedtime stories.
The stress knot in my shoulder from a day of litigation slowly melted as the norm of an evening at home soothed me.
In the 80’s there were no cell phones or emails that turned my regular business day into a hyper always connected 24/7 unrelenting clamor in my head bringing a hyped-up stress level to my life.
With the advent of COVID, I’ve struggled to maintain boundaries that keep “WORK” from becoming my number one focus when “HOME.”
However, the spark that ignites in my brain when I see “WORK” voice messages or emails after hours, cannot be ignored or silenced. I am drawn like a moth to a fire. Tell me you can relate to that feeling.
Yet, working in my “HOME” rather than a company office has expanded my ability to walk the dog more, throw in a load of laundry, dress casually, enjoy snacks on demand, reduced hair styling and makeup requirements, make unlimited personal calls, and surf the web occasionally— all of which makes it harder for me to focus intently on my “WORK” projects unless I really work at it. No pun intended.
Now that my children are grown, the familiar yet sometimes chaotic evenings of days past no longer offer me a buffer delineating the start and end of my workday. So instead, the self-imposed boundaries I have put in place to separate “WORK” from “HOME” have morphed into getting 8 + hours of sleep, a decent diet, exercising and limiting my nighttime phone and screen time. I don’t take work calls on my personal cell after six o’clock unless it’s really necessary. I have mostly stopped checking my work emails after dinner and sometimes I even make it through a whole weekend.
Please reply with what tips you have for balancing your work life and home life under the same roof and a have a great day.
Updated: December 15, 2021
