14 Weird Things I Learnt After I Started Working From Home

October 29, 2018 at 10:06 am

I recently took the step of shifting from working a full-time job at the office to a freelance position from home.

I was lucky enough to have the most loving human system imaginable at work. Not only was I fully supported in this decision, but I was also given all the help needed to make the adjustment easier and less stressful.

However, not everything is all frills and whistles, and what I thought would be an easy task turned out to teach me more about myself than I could ever have imagined.

Here’s what I learned when I started working from home.

1. I never realised how stressful commuting really is

Morning traffic is the one thing I really don’t miss about going to work. Getting up three hours before my shift started and spending almost two of them commuting was an absolute nightmare. I didn’t drive so that didn’t help my cause either.

It wasn’t that bad in summer; buses are quite chill and the walk to and fro stops was enjoyable. But come September, the journey was one of the most depleting experiences I’ve ever had. Think Frodo journeying to Mordor, but damper and with more orcs.

2. There’s this thing called housework

I never realised how much stuff you can do at home before I actually started spending my day here. Cleaning behind the fridge is now a thing, along with wiping cupboard tops and dusting behind picture frames. Amazing.

Have you ever moved your washing machine? No? Seriously, do it.

3. Structuring your day is really weird

As I mentioned earlier, housework is something that’s very easy to get lost in.

The first week I spent working from home was my least productive one. I had no idea how to manage my own time and most of it was spent doing the most useless things ever.

4. But on the plus side, you can work wherever and whenever

This has to be the best perk ever.

There’s nothing better than waking up at 3am, work for a couple of hours and go back to bed again. It turns out that being a night owl really does have its advantages.

Also, nothing beats working in some random cafe or at the local bandli.

5. Breaks are so hard to pin down

My first couple of weeks were spent yo-yoing between two extremes when it came to taking breaks.

I had a more structured day back in the office, but now it seemed like breaks would either be non-existent or last for five hours. I was a complete mess.

6. Distraction will become your middle name

Ever wondered why butterflies get those weird colours on their wings? How does one recognise a female skeleton from a male one? Why do bees hover? What is the social structure in an ant colony? Why do humans laugh? These are a few of the questions I was distracted by in the span of one day. All of which I Googled, read about in detail and somehow even memorised.

Working from home gives you the attention span of a puppy in a room full of people who are happy to see him.

One minute I’m working and the next I’ll be baking brownies. Which brings us straight to the next point.

7. You will seriously learn how to cook

No more pre-made lunches or take-out meals. You won’t settle for a quick meal anymore. If you need to eat, you will go all-out, it’s ridiculous.

Home-made cakes are almost a weekly thing now. The beauty of it is that somehow I still manage to do the same amount of work I was pulling before. Bliss

8. You will get to know yourself in the weirdest ways imaginable

I’ve learnt how to manage my short attention span, how to allocate proper time for family, friends, work and myself too.

Being someone who cherishes alone time a bit too much, this amazing opportunity has given me the chance to think long and hard about what I want in life and what I really care about.

9. It gets crazy lonely

Like, unbearably at times too.

Being away from your funny and loving co-workers tends to become a bit overwhelming. Fine, I still keep a solid line of communication, but nothing beats the office banter and the fluffy moments you share over some well-deserved piece of candy with your workbros.

10. You will (eventually) become super good at self control

As I mentioned before, time management was a nightmare at first.

However after I settled in on a daily routine I realised that self control and time-management are key at surviving and keeping yourself from going insane. You will settle into a custom-made timetable in no time, making you not only more productive, but more charged.

Self-discipline is now your best friend.

11. You become way more grateful towards your employers

Being given this amazing opportunity and heaps of support is one of the coolest things ever. I was given the chance to be true to my nature, sleep more and explore less conventional ways when it came to being productive. Also, brownies brah.

If it wasn’t for the rock-solid support system coming from my employers I wouldn’t have been able to realise how lucky I really am.

12. Your sleeping pattern will go crazy

And I mean haywire crazy. You will start getting bouts of energy at one in the morning, dead tired at 7pm and extremely hungry at 5am.

Sometimes days come by when I sleep less than five hours and I’m good to go for a full day of productivity, while on other days I’ll pull an 11 hour sleeping marathon like my life depended on it.

13. Chairs are the devil’s favourite torture device

Here’s something I never really thought about: I loathe chairs. They’re so weird and stiff it’s like you’re trying to relax on a medieval torture device.

My working spots now range from sofas to the balcony floor.

BONUS: It’s confirmed – all your cat does is napping

No, seriously. I noticed the pattern a couple of days in, and all my cat does is sleep. He only gets up to change position or area. Lucky

14 Weird Things I Learnt After I Started Working From Home