We have a dual-purpose room that attempts to function as a guest room and my reading nook/office. The queen sized bed is probably too big, but it was our main bed until we moved into the house and upgraded to a king. It is about 6" away from the desk, so it is a tad tricky to get over to the desk. The desk is a large one that I had at my first job and I purchased it from them when they replaced it. I've actually been meaning to replace it with something smaller that accommodates the space better. I procrastinated on this because it is solid wood, HEAVY, and requires disassembling the bed to remove it. Right now I'm very glad I have it. It has enough room for my monitors, laptop, and plethora of sticky notes. The keyboard tray I discovered can be angled so I'm not literally up against the bed. I debated bringing home my wrist rests, but I'm very glad I did! |
The theme of this room is (you probably guessed it) horses. There isn't THIS high of a concentration of horse things in any other room of my house, but there are horse decorations everywhere in this room. I have to keep reassuring my co-workers about this and that I'm not THIS horse-crazy and this room isn't reflective of the rest of my house. That being said, I really do enjoy that my space is decorated in things that I love. There are a lot of horse decorations, my Cowboy Dressage ribbons, some of my favorite pictures, and floral decorations from my wedding. I've also enjoyed some of the more subtle things about how well equipped my area has been for me working remotely. I already have a desk chair that seems comfortable and hasn't bothered me yet. I also have a desk chair mat so that I can move fairly easily even though we have fairly thick/padded carpet. My favorite part of my set-up is my large window. It provides lots of natural light that helps, especially with the webcam video. It is big and directly next to me so I don't feel so trapped. We have a pretty street and I'm going to watch our tree out front evolve this spring-time. I also enjoy seeing my neighbors out walking. I assume they are out more often than normal due to also being at home, but I really wouldn't know. | I had to make sure I could open my laptop to work. This isn't how I worked in the office, but now we are supposed to always use our webcam in meetings. It covers up a little bit of my other screen, but I'm making do. I'm starting to enjoy having three screens. I make sure that I put the conference call on the laptop screen so that I am looking toward the camera when on the call. They also let me take home my Jabra head-set. This has been helpful because it doesn't cause my dog to bark (he ALWAYS barks when he realizes we are on the phone) and I hope picks up his barking at passers-by less. Lighting is important. I quickly found that the corner between my computers and the window gets really dark and messes with my eyes. It doesn't seem like much, but the desk lamp really helps! I was glad that we worked on getting things set up in this room better including making sure all of the light bulbs in the overhead light were working. I also have found that it helps me to leave the hall light and bedroom light on since they are in my peripheral vision and directly behind my left monitor. These prevents the dark/light contrast and makes it seem more like daytime and slightly reduces my desire to nap along with my pups. Our dogs enjoy laying on the bed and keeping me company as I work. Well, as long as I am not in meetings! I have to kick them out and shut the door when I go on meetings so that they don't bark or otherwise borrow me. |
The first few days weren't very productive. It was hard to focus as I adjusted to my new norm.
People are joking that they are finding out that a lot of meetings could have just been emails. I'm mostly experiencing the exact opposite. We now have meetings just to have meetings and connect. Not that this is a bad thing, but it does leave less time in the day for concentrated work.
Even though I am a hard-core introvert, the silence and lack of interaction did affect me. I'm actually kind of surprised, but I know it is true. I would find myself distracted and browsing Facebook. I also couldn't wait to interact with others in meetings or talk to Alex when he got home (he is employed by the trucking industry and is still going into work). I quickly found out that if I had a podcast in the background that I semi-listen to helps by keeping me company in a way. Right now I am catching up on the Do It Scared podcast.
I've really enjoyed being able to wear sweatpants! I'm not bothered by wearing comfy clothes. Some recommend still dressing up or even wearing shoes. I always enjoy dressing as comfortable as possible, so I embraced that and I do not believe it has affected my work negatively. I do have to make sure I wear socks though!
I am greatly enjoying being able to control the thermostat! My work office has major temperature issues, so this was an added plus.
I did realize that now that I am home it would be the perfect time to cross own an 8-week old puppy off my bucket list. Alex is trying to convince me otherwise. Right now I'm enjoying my extra time with our two current dogs.
My iPhone has a screen time function that tracks usage between different apps. It also allows the creation of time limits for specific groupings (which you can manipulate) of apps. I created a time limit for social media apps. This has been helpful because it keeps me from being distracted mindlessly scrolling and from being exposed to so much social media. Yes, social media is a way to connect right now. However, there is still a lot of negativity and anxiety-inducing posts on social media that is good to limit exposure to. I didn't put make the time limit apply to messages, so I am in turn being very intentional with communicating with those I am closest to.