WFH 1 yr Anniversary

Guys. It's been one full year of working from home due to COVID-19. I did the math. Give or take, one should work about 1,747 hours in a year (this is total time minus PTO/holidays/vacation etc). If I recall correctly, I used all of my time. According to my toggl records, I worked 1,865 hours from March 12, 2020-March 12, 2021. That means, I worked an additional 3 weeks and change over the course of this year. And, to what thanks?! ((let me be clear: my most recent direct supervisor and closest colleagues recognize and appreciate my work, so they have told me))

Life goals: protect my time! Maybe new adventures will help me do this better.... 

Anyway, over the last year, Charli and I have bonded so much. When I do return to campus to work we will both be devastated! 

At the start of the quarantine, the idea of working from home was exciting for someone like me who would love to wfh full-time. I started off in my office/guest room with many visits from our pals. 

Trust me, the clutter stressed me out too. Eventually, I rearranged and stood the bed up against the wall which opened the room a bit. It also became a conversation piece in many video calls. I have always hated that carpet! 

Fast forward one year, everyone loves hanging out under my desk. John ripped the carpet out several weeks ago and finally was able to put in new flooring and paint (with just a few finishing touches left to go!) 

And, it took Roary the whole year to discover the mouse....

Overall, I have zero complaints about working from home. The tricky part has been that the rest of my team has been back on campus since July! They have been so great, though. Thanks to technology it doesn't always feel like I'm not there but then again, it always feels like I'm not there. I do really miss plopping into people's offices to chat and catch up but I guess that would be less likely to occur now anyway. Ultimately, if my current role was a wfh gig, I would be in heaven. Since it's not, it's much more difficult. 

I have found that when everyone was wfh, it was much easier to take a quick break as I would in the office for a walk or to just step away. Once everyone else returned, I was always filled with anxiety that if I missed a call/email/chat that everyone would think that I wasn't working. Between work, school, and teaching, I wonder how many hours I sat over the last year. YIKES. I also wonder what other people did when they were wfh due to quarantines because of exposure/illness. Did they bounce back to the mentality we probably all had at the very beginning? Am I the only one who stresses/stressed about this? 

I did not track my time for the whole 2019 year but for the time I did, I gave an extra week. I estimate that if the whole year had been tracked, it would have been anywhere from an extra 2-3 weeks. 

So. What have I learned? 

1. Owning and operating a doggy daycare is a fantastic idea. 
2. Sacrificing my time only leads to quick burnout and exhaustion. 
3. The majority of people don't actually notice your absence. Do they really care about your presence? Seriously. I had someone tell me they walked by my dark office several times and never realized I was still off campus. Makes you think. There could be two possibilities-option a, my work was so consistent/effective it was like I was there or option b, people just don't really care. 
4. We could have taken advantage of the extra time at home to start these home projects much sooner but we couldn't because we were so tired. Lame.

I could go on, right? The point is this. As I am preparing to embark on a new challenge, I have made observations through my pending departure. No matter how many times you tell someone something or explain it or show them how to find the answer, advocate for others, put in long hours, ask questions, etc (trust me-I could go on and on here), people don't actually care. If there is an opportunity to point fingers or place blame they will do it. Very few individuals will have seen your efforts and recognize the value about to be lost. So, when it comes to giving any organization three extra weeks of your life I suggest proceeding with caution. 

As the saying goes, your organization didn't know you before you accepted a position, they won't know you after. 

With all that being said, I don't think I will work less hard in future roles because of who I am but I will take better care of myself to prevent burnout, frustration, and stress/anxiety.