I feel blessed in that I am well aware that the pandemic has resulted in large scale economic hardship for many, and that I am very lucky to have a job, and to have a job that has not been disrupted by the virus.
I do enjoy working at home, sharing a home office with my lovely wife, and being more available to help my children with homework and other projects.
Working at home also has eliminated my daily commute. It’s only 30 minutes each way, which is quite reasonable. Still, this has given me an hour a day of extra time. Also, kids activities have been canceled across the board. There’s no transport to dance, or basketball, or scouts, or anything else.
But because the reason that I’m working at home is a global pandemic, I’ve become a lot more conscious of my health. I’ve started eating less meat, especially beef, and have been watching more carefully how much sugar and salt are in the foods I eat. I really need to thank my wife for this, as she is a diet drill sergeant.
I’ve been doing more walking, and my wife and I often take quick 25 minute lunchtime walks. When I’m in the office, I often work through lunch at my desk.
In spite of this, I do find that I sometimes work longer hours at home. I’ll log out at the normal time, but some nagging issue or slack message or email will draw me back to my PC. In normal times, I would not consider driving back into the office, except in case of dire emergency, but now that I’m at home all day, every day, it’s not much of an inconvenience to log back in for a quick bit of work.
Here in Pennsylvania, some of the northern and western counties are starting to lift restrictions. I think here in eastern PA it will still be a month before we’re able to eat at a restaurant, or take in a movie at the theater. I do think that a lot of folks, including myself, will continue to work at home much of the time.