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100 secrets to a successful routine working from home (You won’t believe #47!!!) – By @lcmsca2020

100 secrets to a successful routine working from home (You won’t believe #47!!!)

So term two has started, probably not in the way any of us were hoping. Back in lockdown, all working from home. Am I loving it? No, but we live in interesting times and to quote one of the 90s biggest Mancunian prima donnas, you gotta roll with it. 

I guess I wanted to document how lockdown has changed my routine, as I’d developed a nice little regimen for myself when we were going into school. Cycling the 8.4 miles between my house and the Brixton campus, leaving at 8.15 in the morning in order to get there for 9 (was I late sometimes, sure, but I get stuck behind buses a lot and they are rather slow). I take my breakfast with me to eat once I get to campus, as I hate forcing myself to eat first thing in the morning. Arrive on campus, cool down a bit, change out of my cycling clothes, put my stuff on my desk and boomshanka I’m ready for the day. 

With lockdown this routine has naturally been thrown out the window, I told my self I’d set my alarm for my usual time wake up, have a somewhat civilised morning, maybe I’d even start getting the paper? In my head that’s the ultimate sign of a civilised morning, having enough time to read a paper front to back, maybe start on the crossword, finish it later in the evening etc etc… but I digress. Where was I? Oh yeah, set my alarm for the usual time, read a bit of the paper, go for a walk or something just to get some fresh air in before the day starts, make a bite to eat, jump in the shower and then pop back upstairs to my office/bedroom in time for 9, start a bit of work, then we’re good to go for 9.30. Sounds idyllic right? Well I’ve managed that routine about 3 times in the two weeks since we’ve been back. 

Realistically what happens is, alarm goes off at 7.30, I look out the window, there’s precipitation on the inside, its foggy/raining/misty/cold/unpleasant/freezing outside and my motivation to jump out of bed and seize the morning by the reigns slowly evaporates as I realise that where I am right now, its warm, its cozy and I am comfortable and, most importantly, my phone has a snooze button. Cue hitting snooze for the next half hour – on a good morning – 45 mins if its not so good. This gives me 45 mins before 9am to fulfil my morning goals, and like that, the idea of a walk is out the window because I don’t have time to make it to the park and back, and I don’t want to get rained on first thing. So instead I slowly shower, and make a coffee, sit at my desk and mull over any work I have left from the night before.

Class starts, and my zoom camera is off. I don’t want you looking at me in the morning. I’m at my worst, I’m not feeling fresh, I probably have some clothes drying on a rack in the background. Leave me alone, I’ll hide behind the blank zoom screen with my name over it thank you very much. I bathe in the anonymity that it offers, plus if I do that I can put my feet up on the desk and put my laptop on my stomach, and if I did that while the camera was on I’d have 5 chins and you could see up my nose, no one wants that.

Those of you who have your cameras on by the way what’s the deal? Narcissism? Or are you rubbing it in the faces of other non morning people like me, you’re up, you’re awake, you’re feeling fresh. Well lah dee dah, look who has their lives together. You make me sick.

I mean on the more positive side of the coin, I now make sure to get out the house for 45 minutes at lunch and do a brisk walk around the park (my local has several deer, a couple of goats and a parakeet cage, try being grumpy once you’ve walked past that lot). I find this gives me time to decompress, especially with how short the winters days are I need my daily dose of the D, and walking after class in the dark isn’t really as nice. I’ve started running again, in the evenings, hadn’t done any kind of run since SCA started as I’m usually too tired by the end of the day. Now I have the time, and I forgot how meditative I found it, really helps me work out the mental knots accumulated when stuck on a bit of work. Lockdown isn’t so bad really, I don’t like working in my room, but all the other aspects of it that annoy me seem to have a work around. 

Moral of the story, I’m not a morning person, don’t fit a square peg into a round hole. Find a routine that works for you and helps you maintain a mental and physical balance in this fucked up situation. 

Sorry for the rant.

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