Returning to Work (after working from home) is a Real BITCH!!!

DEREK’S DISCLAIMER:  I am not a medical professional, neither am I giving any medical or legal advice. If you are seeking help from a doctor or an attorney, please consult said professionals.  These are my personal thoughts and feelings on the subjects discussed, and my blog is my own personal experiences and journey with mental imbalance.  Thanking you in advance!

Welcome back, my dearest Mind Benders!

Today I am going to address something that has been truly weighing on my mind – no pun intended. And that is returning to work during this pandemic. Oy!

My own personal work-from-home history

Let me start with my own work-from-home history.

I have been working from home off and on for over 20 years. Yes, I discovered the joy of working from home wayyyyyy back in 1999 when I began studying to become a medical transcriptionist. When I was told that I could do this from the comfort of my own home and in my pajamas if I wanted (or less LOLOLOL), I was like THIS is the job for me. After going full-time to school for about a year and then dropping out for a while, I finally graduated in 2003. By that time, though, I had already begun working from home doing medical transcription.

That transitioned into simple, nonmedical transcription. And eventually I was working full-time from home, which lasted for about five years! Then later on down the road I did it again for two years!

It was an off and on thing for me, because I ended up taking other jobs outside my home, acting jobs mostly. But I LOVED the idea of working from home where I could start work whenever I wanted, finish whenever I wanted, with no one looking over my shoulder. The refrigerator was right there and, again, I could wear whatever the hell I wanted! No dressing up! Heck, I could even work to music and/or the TV!!!

I began my current outside-the-home job back in late 2017. Then the pandemic hit, and for a lot of lucky devils, including myself, we were fortunate enough to be able to transition to working remotely or from home. (I guess we weren’t essential enough LOL) And that was such a GODSEND!

But in coming back we are asking ourselves some questions:

You mean I can do this from home? And I could have all along??

Why haven’t we been doing this before?

What is the point of even going into an office to work anymore????

What We Have Returned To

We have returned to packing a lunch and/or finding something to bring to work to eat or snack on during the day. And where I work, we are strongly prohibited from using the refrigerator and microwave due to COVID. So, even with returning to work, there are new challenges we have never encountered before. And of course, the biggest is wearing a MASK ALL DAY!! UGH! Side note: Yes, I am fully vaccinated, and I do believe in wearing my mask. But all day????????

We have returned to wearing CLOTHES!!!!! And clothes that hopefully fit!! (I definitely gained during this pandemic!!!)

We have returned to heavy traffic!!!

And I swear to God when I leave my house now to go to work, I feel like I am packing for an overnight trip! THE STRUGGLE IS REAL!

Not Having to be Around People and Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!!!

Working from home is definitely great for stay-at-home moms. But it is also great for people who don’t wish to be around a lot of people. I’m one of THOSE people LOL Let’s face it, the pandemic has made us rethink a lot of things, as it should. And one of them is working and the ability to actually do our jobs from home.

Heck, even teachers had to adjust to working from home and doing their extremely important jobs on Zoom. (And let’s not forget the potential danger of teachers and students returning to the classroom with COVID still out there, this Delta Variant, and unvaccinated people!!! There is DEFINITE anxiety there!!!)

Speaking of Zoom, Zoom has become our friend. Mine anyway. It was quite an adjustment for a lot of us, but I would gather we adapted rather quickly. I know I did. And on my job, which is working in the medical field, it was very much an adjustment with going into private breakout rooms and learning how to share documents via share screen and sharing sound, speaking to others in the room, making sure you are muted and screen blanked/video stopped when appropriate, etc. Eventually, I was able to become Zoom host where I set up the breakout rooms and was able to broadcast messages! So, yeah. I love me some Zoom, baby!!!

However, I also know that there are those individuals who NEED to be around others. And for mental health reasons, i.e. not to feel isolated as we have during the pandemic. But I am not one of those people LOL! But I digress. It is understandable that this work thing that has been around wayyyyyy too long mostly involves working with and around other people. That is what we have been socialized to expect in our worklife, working with others. Gee, I guess it started in that other thing called school. 🙂

And now for many work-from-home people going back into the office or wherever, it is quite difficult to get us out of the house.

This is why it has become very difficult for me to return to the actual space where I work. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE my job and the people I work with. But I also LOVE working from home.

I am also VERY grateful to have a job! Because so many people lost theirs during this unfortunate time that we are STILL going through. But I also realized hmmmm I miss this working remote thingy.

But times have definitely changed. We realize that we no longer need to go into an office or wherever to work. We can do it from the comfort of our homes. And yes, in our pajamas or in the – whatever.

And I am not surprised that people feel a bit depressed over returning. Again, the struggle is REAL!! And please take care of YOU!!!

That is it for today. And I look forward to discussing this further as we go along.

Until then, please be mentally well!!!