(Photo by David Silverman/Getty Images)
I have no science at all to back up this claim, but I’m just going to pretend like there are various studies supporting a recent conclusion I came to: working from home (on a regular basis) is some bullshit.
Of course, like all things in life, its contextual. See, I have chirrens, little chirrens at that. What does this mean? I’m glad that I’m assuming that you asked. This means that working from home doesn’t come with peace and tranquility. It comes with all of the shenanigans, all of the nincompoopery, and all of the distractions. Which is saying something because I’m a fellow who can’t even read unless I’m listening to music. I thrive off of background noise; I can listen to the radio through snowy reception and be just as happy as a pig in slop.
Let’s take it back to the beginning though because I think my issues are rooted in conditioning. See, for most of my work life, I’ve enjoyed employment that required me to venture to an office space to perform the duties of my job. Now that my ministry has changed to working from wherever, work….looks different to those around me.
Not to mention that I’m an actual “writer” for a living right now which, admittedly, looks like some bullshit to many people. It’s like when I used to be a manager at a nightclub, a job that NOBODY outside of the nightlife industry respects as an actual job. Never mind that I was responsible for tens of thousands of dollars a night – often in cash – and the operations of a venue of drunken idiots, most people think that to manage a nightclub or work in that industry at all just means you stay up late, take pictures with hot women, and take a lot of shots on the company dime. Don’t get me wrong, there were lots of nights of doing just that, but I still had a job to do and I could be fired for not doing it properly. When people see fun, they don’t see work and they struggle with the concept of “oh, you are enjoying this? Then you must be free to go do all of the things I need to do because that’s not a real job. #teamworkfromhomemeansrunerrandsinthemiddleoftheday”
Now, that’s not entirely my life; I’ve only been working from home (and even now I’m in a cowork space) for a few days now, but man, I realize how hard it is to be disconnected from inside my home when my home is active. When kids yell, I need to make sure everybody is still alive when the yelling stops. When I hear a big thump, I need to make sure everybody is still alive when the thumping stops. It’s an adjustment that requires a lot of work. Not to mention the personal mental gymnastics of structure and discipline when you can simply turn over in bed, scratch your balls, fall out of bed and physically “be at work” without brushing your teeth or moving more than a foot.
To be clear, I realize that this is a first world problem like a motherfucker and I’m not really complaining since this would be a stupid thing to complain about. Moreso, I didn’t realize how much of an adjustment it would be to go cold turkey from working in a professional setting and environment to working from home during a week when my whole house is off from work and nephews, brothers, and family are in town. Dis is not tew much, but it is a lot. Truth is, having the ability to work from home and set your own schedule is a hell of a privilege. For instance, on Tuesday, I watched the shit out of Love and Hip Hop Hollywood in my room while kids were making loud noises throughout my house. It felt a little bit awesome. Of course, at some point my two little sons began banging on the door so they could come in and bite my knees. Yeah.
Point is, working from home while awesome is also not – for my life, anyway – all its cracked up to be. Luckily, I’ve procured myself some outside workspace so that it looks and feels like I’m going somewhere for work and it gives me my own feel of actively being and doing something productive.
I guess this is what they all one of those good problems.
Thanks, Obama.
