Working from home is a fantasy that most people have. The fantasy of flexible hours, working in pajamas, and your dog sleeping on your lap with your laptop on his back. The reality is more pajamas on the bottom and work attire on top for zoom meetings, neighbors mowing their lawns mid meeting, and a constant battle with trying to explain to your family and friends that working from home doesn’t mean you’re always available to help them.

The perks from working from home do outweigh the cons if you remember to keep yourself in check. Pajama checking emails is a thing. Straight from bed to desk or even work from your bed is possible. There’s nothing more rebellious than taking a call from your boss while still in bed and praising you on how productive you’ve been. Zoom meetings are even funnier. Work attire on top and pajamas on the bottom is very much the mullet of workwear. Commute free bliss is probably the biggest perk. I get to live in the country, in a different state than my firm, instead of gridlock traffic on I-75, annoyed that I must leave an hour and a half before work starts. Lastly, as I already mentioned, DIY workspace. I don’t have to work in a sterile cubicle. My desk can be a shrine to girlhood and have candles and pictures and lip gloss everywhere. Dog smells is all I have to worry about instead of my cubicle partner who is lactose intolerant but just ate a huge bowl of yogurt.

The cons are a bit more of the chaos I don’t talk about. Distractions are everywhere in sight. Laundry piled up. Dishes that are calling my name. Neighbors working on their yard or house or building something. Every chore feels urgent and like they can’t wait. Zoom fatigue is a thing. The flipside of being able to work in bed is, there’s an emergency meeting and now you’re rushing to slap on some makeup, smooth your hair, and look appropriate in just minutes. Boundaries are another thing I struggle with. It’s often that I don’t know when work should end. There’s times where I work past dinner and don’t realize it. Half the time I close my laptop and still my brain is in work mode. Not having that commute, short or long, to decompress and take you out of work mode doesn’t exist when you’re just going to the room over.

In the end it’s all about the perfect balancing act and creating boundaries. Working from home is a mix of cozy perks and chaotic pitfalls. It’s pajamas and productivity, candles and clutter, and freedom and fatigue. The trick is to not pretend like it’s perfect. It’s about embracing the messy magic. It allows me the ability to dive into other projects and explore my creative side than any other scenario ever would. Every time I get to sit at my desk in a zoom meeting knowing I’m still wearing pajamas on the bottom, I remind myself I’m living the paradox. I’m all about finding comfort in the chaos. 

XOXO,

Savi Monroe