Striking a balance between work and home amid a virus word ban
PHASE 1 and its lifting have passed me (so far) by in a blur of optimistic, mixed with cautionary soundbites from Simon Harris, who is having a moment right now. Listening to him on Morning Ireland on Monday, I got the sense he was reading from a pre-approved script as he enumerated the ways in which we are freer and yet not to be relaxed; empowered and yet powerless. Like a wrestler ballet dancing on a pinhead, he admittedly had a difficult task on his hands.
Working from home is like going on holiday to your parent’s house: there are benefits but can you ultimately relax the way you’d like.
I’m listening to the radio a lot more and have a new found appreciation for it. Surrounded by cooing pigeons and all sorts of magnificent birds who come to peck at my bird feeder throughout the day, I am living a life of deep serenity and it drives me nuts at times!
Combined with minding young children, adult company is needed and comes most often in the form of radio personalities (and having lived in America, we are lucky, believe you me!)
As someone who loves my down time, I find being chained to the dining room bureau challenging and unnatural. The TV screen in the sittingroom beyond is a temptation, for one, and is usually frozen on CNN, (as if I’m ever going to have time to watch the programme).
Way back ten weeks ago in early March, you’d go to work, come home at 5.40, five days a week and that was the routine. In my job the work days vary, so sometimes you work on your phone at home or make or take calls at weekends and in the evenings or early mornings, but the laptop was not on semi-permanent display like part of the furniture, beckoning you to it.
The problem is getting back to the office is not going to be easy. I share an office with another staff member and as it’s small, social distancing may mean we won’t be able to work together in all likelihood which is largely what I’ve been looking forward to about returning to the office.
That and a bit of variety.
AMID the endless chatter about the current health crisis – and because of it – I have taken the bold decision to ban the C virus word from conversations with the children’s mother. As both of us work in the media, where you can’t write about carrot growing without coming back to a conversation about how said virus is causing a huge upsurge in demand for said root vegetable as everyone is baking enough to feed an army of rabbits. Speaking of furry creatures, I spotted a grey squirrel while out walking with The Whirlwind Wonder and The Little Fella in a woods at the weekend and as it sprang and darted through the thicket, our hearts raced at happening upon such a sight.
The weekend walk has become a great way to see the local forests and explore nature together. A few falls occasionally happen and clothes get muddy but it’s all part of the experience. Before long we’ll be able to wander much further and who knows, maybe by Phase V some form of life/work balance may be possible. In the meantime we’ll go through the motions (or phases even) and hold firmly onto what we have.