Let’s face it: working from home will be the default option for many of us. And many things have changed for the last year. For some of us, we missed popping in at Starbucks for our fix before hitting the office. For others, we missed the solitude of being first at the workplace and clearing our minds before the daily grind begins. Our routines have changed indefinitely.
However, working from home have their boons. For one, we don’t have to rush for our ride in the morning, squashed in like sardines on the trains. And we also save some money as a result. We get to wake up later and get to saunter to the kitchen for something to munch as often as we like.
Challenges
Still, the challenges of working from home might be greater than in the office. The vibes of being in the office abuzz with our coworkers are gone. Power lunches are gone. Free air-conditioning is gone. Those are not the worst things that you can experience when working from home.
The constant drone of the traffic, the suddenness of someone embarking on a renovation project – the drilling, the demolition works; the screams of the neighbour’s kids, or someone blasting their stereos and singing off-key – these can drive you mad. On top of that, working from home blurs the line between work and rest. Your boss is constantly asking you to do that one last thing - on a Saturday night. Whatever happened to work-life balance?
How can you regain your sanity?
The problem many of us face when working from home is the sense of losing control. We feel as if we’re being sucked in to a vortex and we’re falling faster than the pull of gravity. We feel as if we have no control over noise, no control of our time and so on. The truth is: you do have control.
Regain Control
You can certainly control the your working hours. While we want to please our bosses, and we want to be reachable, but anything after working hours is yours. That’s your time. You might say – during these times, I have no choice – I need to be contactable all the time, or I risk losing my job. That is untrue. I’ve known of friends who switch off their work phone and absolutely refrains from checking their emails after working hours. Their bosses are none-too-please, as to be expected, but there’s nothing they can do about it. And they still get to keep their jobs. Of course, there’s always give-and-take. If you find that you can reason with your boss, do that. That’s the best option. Otherwise, you will have to put your foot down and reclaim your time.
Next, noisy neighbours. We’re not starting a fight with our neighbours. But we’re entitled to discuss the problems we face with our neighbours. Sometimes, they’re not even aware of the noise they generate. But being nice about it – try bringing them a cake or something – it’s the icing to what you want to broach to them. Even if your neighbours are reluctant to do anything about it, by talking to them, you’ve alerted them to the inconvenience they’ve caused to you. Consciously or subconsciously they might do something to alleviate the problem you’re experiencing.
Even when noise that seems uncontrollable, it doesn’t you mean you can’t manage them. If there’s constant renovation noise, you can try minimizing the effect by putting on a good pair of wireless headphones. True, while noise cancellation headphones can’t cancel out jarring noises, having our favourite music on serves to distract us from the most unpleasant noises around us. And soon, the noises might just recede to the back of minds, especially when we’re focused on a matter.
Of course, the most drastic action you can do is to install double-glazed windows and install other things that can soundproof your house. That cost money, but if it means regaining your sanity, it’s worth every cent.
Maintain an Active Lifestyle
Finally, being cooped up at home all day is detrimental to your minds. If your work affords some flexibility in how you manage your work hours, you could juggle them around, and go for a walk or exercise while these seemingly uncontrollable noises happen. Often, such noises occur during certain times of the day. If you can identify the pattern of when these noises are generated during the day, you could leave the house, run some errands or go for an exercise. Not only will you be able to extricate yourself from the noise, you’re building up stronger bodies – and that can’t be bad.
Of course, if you’re out and about, be sure to put on a good pair of sunnies. Sunday Shades offers the best-in-class sunglasses for all outdoor enthusiasts. They’re lightweight, fitting and affordable. Sunday Shades offers a whole range of quality UV-protected, polarized with exciting and cool colours for everyone. Check out a pair today!