Balancing remote work and home life

Solitude reminds me of backpack camping in that it brings adventure, challenges, growth, and bonding.

Backpack camping
Having lived in Colorado for many years, I went backpack camping for 2-3 days with my son alone with our small dog up to 2 miles in the mountains where the sites provided bear safe lockers. The views were beautiful. The fresh air and smells of flowers were incredible.

The first night I ever tried to set the fire and cook, it rained and the fire kept going out, but I learned. Next time, we made fire and enjoyed warm fully cooked meals. Cooking at home regularly involves evaluating supplies and balancing meals accordingly, similar to camping.

While camping, we explored the areas and went on hikes. I learned what my son loved about nature.

History of mild asthma
When I first moved to Colorado, a mountainous state. I discovered asthma related to altitude by having a massive asthma attack and being hospitalized. Over time and with long distance sports, I eliminate the use of inhalers.

Shortness of Breath
​This past Monday, I started work at 6:30am and had 5 virtual meetings. Three were back to back. Normally this would have been fine, but not last week for some reason.

By 16:00 I was exhausted and had shortness of breath that continued until bedtime (no fever or other symptoms). With shortness of breath, reading 1 chapter of my son's book during story time was difficult.

Below are my reflections and changes I made in remote work as a mom to better balance home and work. As these are personal reflections that fit my situation, these by no means replace medical advice or are a one-size-fits-all solution for others.

Self-care
Shortness of breath during a pandemic is likely the worst timing for asthma to reappear. Here are some things that I immediately did to improve my life/remote work balance:

• doing breathing exercises
• resting more even if not sleeping
• sleeping more
• airing out the house for at least 3 hours each day
• drinking tea throughout the day (ginger tea with honey and lemon)
• playing with my son and the dogs
• reading fun books
• taking life more slowly
• unplugging from news and all electronics for parts of the day
• modifying my remote work schedule

Virtual Meetings
People come to virtual meetings with expectations for themselves and for others. Part of self-care is being realistic about expectations you have versus what others have.

Here are a few things to consider regarding potential gaps between expectations and reality:

• Schedule / accept invitations for only 1-3 virtual meetings (I rescheduled 2 this past week)
• Schedule meetings that are no more than 1 hour long
• Have a liquid tea nearby during the meeting
• Ask others to take notes in the chat and share those with the meeting agenda on basecamp or similar
• Advise the participants that the chat feature may also be used
• Don't be afraid to mute yourself or drop camera (and let the host know and mention in the chat that you need to go)

Pairs or Groups
With the current health concerns across the globe, it is possible that others might also get symptoms, but at different times. If paired or grouped in 3, then critical issues can be addressed as peers let each other know when they need naps, rest, lunch, are in other meetings. This enables the team to consider new situations that arise during a pandemic.

Emails and general work

• Determine which tasks can be moved to another day or the weekend to balance the work flow
• Focus on the core job
• Direct small tasks if possible to a general queue

Out of office response

• Provide an email address where general questions can be directed for immediate support​

Kindness for others
During the past week, colleagues and neighbors have offered various support (all practicing social distancing) such as picking up my inhaler, dropping off groceries, and dropping off a computer screen for my home office. I hope to soon be able to help others as well.

​I feel like a warrior at turtle speed.