Remember when you were young and it’s raining really hard and storm signal no. 2 was just announced and it was a weekday so you’d have no classes the next day and that’s really awesome but then your teacher sends a message to your class president that you have homework and the storm was really bad so you’ll just really be at home doing homework all day? Remember that feeling?
Well, working from home, that’s like that. Multiplied by 10! Because, now, you’re also an adult so you also have chores to do at home and bills to pay and several existential crises to go through on a daily basis. You’re an adult! Responsibilities! Adulting! Arrrgh!
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For a lot of people around the world, this will be the first time they experience working from home. Well, welcome to the future. With no end to COVID-19 yet in sight, this is most likely our work setup for the next few months or so. To help you cope with the situation, here’s a rough guide to what every day as a “home-sourced” employee will be like.
Stage 1 - The Day Begins
You wake up as you always do but you feel a sense of joy because you don’t have to take a shower to go to work. You drink some coffee, make some breakfast if you’re feeling extra, and smile and feel grateful because you no longer have to endure the hassles of rush hour in the Philippines. Because of this, you feel the need to reward yourself.
Stage 2 - The Temptation of Just 1 Episode
Just one episode, right? That won’t mess up your schedule. You’re practically at work already. So you go ahead and indulge yourself. Just one episode. It’s less than an hour. One hour max! Yes, you think to yourself. It will inspire you. Give you fresh ideas. Yes, yes. One episode.
Stage 3 - The Organizing of the Work Area
After 3 episodes (6 if it’s at x2 speed), you are inspired. You go to your desk or make-shift work area to start work. You want to start writing ideas but your ideas are really special so you need a special notebook—your ideas notebook!—and a special writing instrument. You start writing notes. Making lists of the things you will do today. You are truly inspired to start working.
Stage 4 - The Oh, It’s Lunchtime Already
You got so inspired, you forgot to check the time. Your tummy reminds you that it’s time for lunch.
Stage 5 - The Time to Work Part 1
Okay, now. Now, you’re ready to start working. You’re inspired, you’re prepared, you’re full. Now, is the time to work. “I will start working now,” you tell yourself. Oh wait, that’s more like “i wIlL StArT WoRkInG NoW” ala Spongebob meme which you see as you “accidentally” go on social media. You hit a wall and can’t seem to function. You need a break.
Stage 6 - The Coffee Break
Nothing helps to jump start the system quite like coffee. Yes, this is what you needed. The caffeine boost! Coffee! The drink of the gods! You are creative again. Ready to take on any challenge. Yes, time to start working for real now.
Stage 7 - The Time to Work Part 2
After that long preamble, you finally start working. And you actually go through a decent amount of tasks. Good for you! But as the minutes pass, your list suddenly looks so long and intimidating. You can’t see the end. Like an endless journey that you can’t escape because you’re at home and there’s no escape in sight! Your work is inside your home. You are trapped!
Stage 8 - The Quitting Time
But then, after all that, you finally finish everything (or most of it) and go on social media and look at your feed and see the endless stream of headlines. Of the true hardships of life outside your home. Of frontliners who have to walk miles to get to work. Of people without work so they also don’t have food. Of families who live every day and every meal as if it were their last because chances are it might be. So in the end, as you go to bed and slumber, you feel grateful. Working from home might be tough but this is not the worst thing in life. This is not the worst thing in life.