Adjusting to Working at Home

Hello Everyone! Boy have I been absent lately... I don't really have an excuse other than blogging was put on the back burner.  I don't think I've really mentioned much about getting a new job, other than in my May: Month @ a Glance Post, but I have to admit I've been struggling to find a new rhythm.  Now that I am working from home 90%+ of the time, I'm finding I tend to waste more time than I did before I worked from home.

For years I dreamt of having the ability to sleep in later, not have a long commute and just generally having more hours in my day.  I just knew that if I didn't have to spend 2+ hours in the car every day that my life would find some balance.  And to some extent, I have.  I have been able to keep my house cleaner than it has EVER been in the two years we have lived here.  I don't find myself secretly crying when I look at the dirty clothes and see that we easily have 5 loads that need to be done.  But I also am finding that my life is not quite how I thought it would be.

"When you have expectations, you are setting yourself up for disappointment"

This statement has never been more true for me than it is right now.  It's easy to learn to not expect something of others because they are "only human", but at what point do we remind ourselves that we are human too? When I took this new job, I had a ton of expectations:

• My house would always be clean
• I would workout every day and finally lose the weight
• Meals would be cooked at home and eating out would occur less
• We would save SO much money on gas (and Starbucks) with me at home

And the list goes on and on and on....

But the reality is none too close to the expectation.  Remember: when you have expectations, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.  And I did exactly that: set unrealistic expectations.  

Yes my house is significantly cleaner and more organized - I even have had time to organize boxes and things that have bothered me for over a year, but is it always clean? Nope.  For the first few weeks, I managed to workout almost every day, but my motivation fizzled out once the job started to get a little too busy and I felt I had to sacrifice something to make sure I got sleep.  We've had more groceries in the house since I took this job, but I honestly think I can count on one hand the amount of times I cooked a meal at home {I think I need to face the reality that I just don't like to cook}.   And we have saved some money on gas and coffee, but we've also been eating out more than ever because there is no meals at home for which to take leftovers and lunches are just not getting packed.

But what I am forgetting is to give myself grace and to remember that I, too, am human.  I need to take a step back and look at all that I have been able to accomplish since starting the job back in April and not gripe about the things I have not.  I think the hardest part about the new job has been my inability to stay out of the negative.  I am an extremely social person, so spending my days alone (with the exception of our three cats) has been challenging for me.  Often I go to others to talk through something I am dealing with and now that I can't easily do that like I was before, I'm feeling isolated and frustrated.  And those feelings almost always lead to a negative head space.  

So here I am, four months later, still adjusting to being a person that works from home majority of the time.  I am adjusting to being with me, myself and I more often than before and I am working tirelessly to find ways to keep myself out of the negative head space and live my life in the positive.  

The first, and biggest thing is for me to just be grateful for this opportunity.  

Over the next few months, I will be sure to share some tips and tricks I've learned to help keep myself on track when working from home.  I know a lot of the articles I read before working from home full-time were very helpful so I will be sure to share those as well.

Question of the Day: What things do you do to keep yourself out of a negative head space?

I'd love to hear from you!

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