The Working Mom's Guide to
Pandemic Teleworking
1. Be patient with technology.
Say that your work cell phone keeps sending you to look at text messages when what you're trying to check is your voice mail. Resist the urge to throw that piece of crap against the wall. Do what any good 80s teen would do with technology: Turn it off and turn it back on again. Also, you may experience latency in your broadband. With multiple people using it all the time, you are bound to have connectivity issues. It's okay. Everyone else is in this boat with you. Well, metaphorically, in this boat with you . . . we're all socially distancing, so we are all in our separate little boats.
2. Be gentle with your family.
I know your kid is driving you nuts -- asking you to play when you're trying to work on a document, watching cartoons when you're trying to do a conference call, refusing to do the homeschool work you've given him (even though, let's face it, it's not required of him . . . you just want him to do it). I know your spouse might be doing some things you think are a little much -- bleaching the countertops A LOT, bringing home all the canned black beans, using lots of hand sanitizer even though you're just in your house. But you are also doing things that are driving them nuts and that seem a little much. Be gentle.
3. Exercise at least once a day.
Your brain and your body need the exercise. You need the break. I have been trying to walk my dog two to three times a day, weather permitting. If you decide to go for a walk for exercise, here is my social distancing tip: Sharing the sidewalk means more than just stepping aside and letting someone go past, now. To properly maintain social distance, you need to cross the street and not be within 6 feet of that other person. You're not being an a-hole; you're being prudent. Wave at your neighbor from that distance and call out a friendly "hello" to them.
4. Don't "diet."
I'm actually not a big fan of "diets" anymore. Unless you are going to be on that "diet" forever (and you might be, but most of us don't do that), every "diet" is virtually guaranteed to work only temporarily until you eventually give it up and go back to your old eating patterns. (To me, "dieting" and the diet industry is designed to set you up for failure and all the negative feelings that such "failure" brings to the dieter who has "messed up." I could write a whole blog post about this -- and maybe I will one day -- but my point now is that the last thing you need right now is the additional pressure of a restrictive eating plan.) Instead of "dieting," nurture yourself with the food you have. And, honestly . . . bake the cookies, eat the ice cream, enjoy the chocolate. munch the chips, savor the cheese. Do not beat yourself up. Do not uses negative words to describe these actions . . . you have not "failed," you have not "screwed up," you have not "been bad." You have eaten something that you enjoy at time when you are under immense stress. This is not failure, or screwing up, or being bad. This is living.
5. Each day, have a clear and definite stop time for work.
With your office and your home one-and-the-same now, it would be very easy to let work consume you and your day. You need the break. Have a hard stop. Turn off the laptop. Turn off the phone. Don't pick it up again until the next day. Give yourself downtime. Sure, sure, there might be emergencies that force an exception to this rule. But those emergencies don't happen every day. Most of what we are working on can wait until tomorrow. You need this time away from work for the same reason you need the exercise.
6. Be kind to and patient with yourself.
Working from home with a kid (or kids) and a spouse (if you have one) there too is HARD. There are distractions. There is noise. You will get frustrated. You will fly off the handle. Give yourself a break. (And, apologize for losing your cool if you do.) If you feel like you might erupt, see #3 above. Exercise will help break that tension. And when your work day is done -- because you will be done each day, right? -- do something fun for yourself, whatever that may be. Give yourself the right to enjoy something during this rather unenjoyable time. And have that cookie while you're doing it.
Have a good weekend, friends.
