Self-Examination and Discovery

As we continue to navigate the ever-changing situation that the COVID-19 pandemic presents us, there are many changes we have to make, and most likely, there will be many more to come.  Personally, I relocated most of the essential materials from my office at St. Ambrose to my home this week.  I am lucky in that most of my job can be done remotely, and those things that can’t be done remotely could be completed quickly with a visit to the office once a week.  In the process of deciding what should come with me and what should stay, I had to do some examination of my work habits.

I am, by nature, a creature of habit.  I had luckily built in a lot of the framework I would have needed to switch to working remotely long ago, and I had migrated a lot of my computer files to a portable machine earlier this year.  My weeks are very structured when it comes to what must be done each day.  This has been helpful in keeping up with what day it is in general and I haven’t experienced too much sense of one day bleeding into another and forgetting where I am in the week.

So, for me, the switch to working from home didn’t come with too many hiccups, but it did come with a healthy dose of self-examination and discovery.  Where previously my brother and I had been working outside the home and our parents were holding the fort in their retirement, now “the kids” are both home all the time.  It’s been an adjustment for my dad in particular, having everyone around all the time.  But we’ve all carved out our own spaces in the house, and if we ever need to self-isolate, even in the same house, it won’t be too much of an issue to do so.

I did realize that I have to have a relatively clean and organized area to work in.  I’m not too proud to admit my room is typically pretty disorderly.  Now, with me working there, I found very quickly that I needed to clean up.  Still, I find myself glancing up to check the calendar where it is in my office and it isn’t there, because I’m not in my office.  And I’ve found that I am actually more productive if I set boundaries and expectations for myself.  For example, if I would typically put in a set number of hours in my work day, I set a timer for that long.  I allow myself to stop and take breaks, go outside for a walk around the neighborhood, but the hours must get done, not to mention all those tasks that I am able to do remotely.

It is definitely an exercise in discipline, but I think I will come out the other side of this situation with a more streamlined approach to my daily work.  And of course, prayer is a part of my days each and every day.  I ask for strength and perseverance to get through each day and to maintain my focus.  So far, I’ve been successful.

If you have recently shifted your work situation or environment, have you made any discoveries about yourself you didn’t realize before?  How are you making the best of your current situation?