Working From Home

A personal account written by one of our clinicians:

I’ve just sat down at the table with a steaming hot Americano in hand and my laptop, ready to start the work day.  My coffee, my morning ritual, was freshly ground using only the finest Vancouver-roasted beans.  This is my favourite time of day and, due to COVID-19, I am lucky enough to temporarily do it from home. As coffee drinkers know, the first sip of the day is glorious. Thoughts surfaced of the work to get done in a timely fashion and the minimal distractions from colleagues and phone calls.  I’ve never worked from home before, so I am looking forward to a change in scenery. I was in my zone. Then, as quickly as this dream, this oasis, this utopia of productivity came into consciousness, it just as quickly came to a screeching halt…

I suddenly found myself decorating our house for Halloween?  Then for Christmas? Then baking a birthday cake for my 4 year old daughter…

….It’s March. Her birthday is in February.  I’m assuming you know when Halloween and Christmas fall…

Easter is in a week…

In less than one week, I had decorated for 2 major holidays, one birthday, rearranged a 4-year-old girl’s bedroom, had 5 living room dance parties, cut out (I don’t know how many) paper snowflakes for her “Elsa Room”, explained multiple times why we can’t go the park, the library, Science World, Granville Island, the beach,  or see any of our friends for the foreseeable future; all while avoiding contact with the outside world as much as possible (though, I have to admit, I am enjoying the 6 feet apart rule).

Add to that homeschooling your child while both parents work from home, and you have the present situation for families with young children everywhere. With daycares closing, and school not returning any time soon, parents are left scrambling, juggling, and sacrificing their schedule.  Writing an email here, making a phone call there. Staying up until after midnight in order to work for 2 hours (which, if you were not as tired and had completed it earlier in the day, would’ve taken 30 minutes for the same task).

My wife tells me that my standards for people are too high.  I think it might be because my standards for myself may be higher. This sucks. I miss shaking hands (though I am happy that finger guns are making a comeback). I miss not knowing if someone is smiling because their face is behind a mask (only Batman should wear a mask). I miss a large part of my sanity (no comment).

All this to say…Give yourself a break. Hold your family tight, give your kids a kiss/hug that will last just 5 seconds (to 12 years) more. Ice cream for breakfast is fine.  Screen time is not only encouraged, it’s also as cheap as babysitting gets. Wear your amazingly comfy corduroy pants while you work from home (that you would dare not wear to work for risk of being made fun of). Eat more bacon. Cook a full turkey dinner on a Thursday and eat it for 5 days straight. Laugh harder at the Dad Jokes and worry less about rules (except the ones about washing your hands and Social Distancing yourself from the world…those are both good ones). We will all see each other again soon. You’ll be smiling.  I’ll be smiling. And when that day comes, rest assured, you’re getting a hug (and then we’ll keep 6 feet apart).

Okay, maybe we’ll make it 4.