On most days, prior to the pandemic, I took the bus to and from work. The bus stops right in front of the building with my office so it’s convenient. I would often read or listen to a podcast during my travels. This time created a buffer or segue between work and home. While not as important on the way to work (most days), it was a way of me leaving work behind before seeing my family.
In the past 15 months I’ve worked from home and done all that I can to stay away from work outside of my regular work hours. I’m actually better at this now than I was when I went into works. I don’t respond, or even check work emails outside of that work time, something I often did before I started working from home.
What I’ve lost is that in-between time. Walking out of my home office (upstairs spare bedroom) and down into the kitchen doesn’t take me enough time to listen to a podcast, meditate, or do anything else that I might have done to transition from work to home.
Now that I’ve realized this I’m going to make an effort to find ways to have that transition. Maybe I’ll meditate for a few minutes after I’ve shut my computer down at the end of the day. On nice days, maybe I’ll go for a short walk before interacting with my family. Whatever it is, I’ve realized that I need something in between screen time and family time so that I can show up and be present for them.
