“Isn’t working from home supposed to be good?”
Working from home sounds like a privilege and an amazing experience that is coveted by many. However, working from home comes with many quirks as any job does and just like any other job there are several stressors to working at home. Take a look at these 3 different ways that anxiety comes into the working from home environment and see what resonates for you.
Distractions
The amount of distractions around the home can feel astronomical. These can be as simple as walking into the kitchen to get water and being distracted by the amount of dishes in the sink to being interrupted by the noise inside and around the home. Distractions will happen at home. Keep in mind that distractions also occur in an office with co-workers coming into your office unannounced. It is not about not having distractions, it is about finding a way to manage these distractions. Maybe that looks like letting yourself take a break to play with your pets, doing a story time with your kiddos or asking for help with dishes.
You are not going to get away from distractions. It is an unrealistic expectation that there will never be distractions. This requires you to find a way to work within the distractions.
Freedom Guilt
Freedom guilt is what I call the experience that people have with feeling bad that they can take a nap on their own bed during a workday. They feel guilty about the privileges that they have when working from home. Being able to nap or actually taking a lunch break in their kitchen for their full lunch break is a seems like a nicety but really it needs to be the usual.
The expectations in a workplace can be stifling. one makes several adjustments to cope with these expectations. It is normal for the options you have at home to seem like “luxuries” and create sensations of guilt and anxiety. You are not doing something wrong simply because you are taking the time to be human, slow down and not overload yourself to the point of burnout.
Overcompensation
Your work and everything else you do have basically become one. You cannot separate them. You are having dinner and an email comes in so you respond. Your computer stays open and you work late into the night. The time you are are spending with friends while also making mental notes of all the items that you still haven’t checked off your list. Unintentionally, you allow work to seep into every aspect of your life so before you know it everything has the heavy feeling of work smeared across it. Work needs to be separate. It is not fair to you to be expected to produce and create, constantly.
The anxiety of working from home is normal and valid. I hope you take the time to notice how distractions, freedom, guilt and over-compensation can corrupt working from home.
I look forward to hearing from you. I hope this helps you as you take your own powerful and transformative journey. Per usual take what fits for you, leave what does not, and join me next time. Until then let’s stay social 🙂
