This post is about me and the impact of Coronavirus on my life.
Section 1: Describing the problems
i. Office:
I qualified the Chartered accountancy examinations in January 2020. Everything was set and I was supposed to leave for another metropolitan city post completion of articleship which was supposed to end in March. Then Corona happened.
Life post-qualification turned opposite of what I had imagined. Instead of partying late night, I was stuck watching Netflix day and night. I had nothing better to do than to wait for my joining letter which eventually came through in late July.
The period between April to July was filled with varied shades of emotion. While I was happy on a few occasions, but mostly the day was filled with Anger, sorrow - Why God, Why me?
Eventually, Job happened and I joined the one which had called me to the location thus giving me less prospect of working at home. I always knew that I struggled with Work from home. In an office, I can easily pull off days with more than twelve hours of work. However, at home, I struggled even to focus for a few hours. Reasons are enlisted below:
- Community effect: In an office, there are hundreds working in front of my eyes. No external motivation is required - You just see people working and you start for your self as well. Now contrast this to the home situation - sounds of dishes, of people screaming their lungs out, of endless distractions - it becomes really difficult to focus on work. Resorting to other means of entertainment seems like an easier option in such situations.
- Doubts: Physical proximity ensures that one can easily clear their problems - very useful when doing a fresher job. Teams, Zoom may have aided in bridging the gap but for me what can be accomplished and learned with people in close proximity is unmatchable.
Hence my journey at this company went smooth till I was in office. But due to rising cases, even this company switched to WFH. This is when my downfall started. Even though I did whatever was required of me to the best of my abilities, I always felt that I was lacking. Maybe I am not putting in my 100%. I always doubted my work. Whether the other person was satisfied when even though I was not putting in whatever I had. This thought led to my downfall. Another reason I felt was that I was lacking in receiving help from my colleagues because I was too afraid to ask for it. I am not good at bothering people and I know that. I try doing things myself. However, this does not always work in new jobs. Hence in order to succeed it is a must that I ask for repeated help. And as already mentioned, I cannot call people, again and again, it meant that my productivity and self-esteem was suffering. Add to that the fact that I was not enjoying the culture and the industry in which I was working on. Recipes of a failure. And exactly that happened. I quit the company.
After months of waiting, I finally joined a new company. And again the same thing seems to be happening. If not for corona, I am pretty sure that I would have excelled at my job. In this period, I am unable to find any support system, especially at the job. Going to the workplace is not just about working. Working with people makes work easier. Those coffee breaks are as essential as the actual work we do. Because these seemingly unproductive activities actually power the ability to work hours and hours.
ii. Relationships:
I always thought that I am happy being alone. And it is true also. I enjoy my company. But Corona has caused a serious loss of connection with people. Earlier if I interacted with 20 people then during these times I hardly interact with 5. Humans are a social creature. They need to talk, enjoy and keep meeting new people. All this went for a toss. I only had old faces to talk to. It's not that that I do not enjoy their company but it's just that you strive for new people and new places to connect to. I also happen to discover that I haven't had a companion for very long now. More than 8 months. The absence of people to channelize your energy does affect you in the long run even though the effects might not be felt in the short run.
iii. Mobile phone:
I can truly understand what it feels like to have become a slave to your phone. Clocking more than 6-7 hours of screen on-time. And the worst part is that every day I promise to keep my screentime to less than 5 hours. But I fail everyday miserably which further leads me to question my self-controlling ability. I truly seem to have lost any sense of discipline and control over my actions. This again is a major contributor to a fall in my productivity.
iii. Doing other things:
Summarizing,
Not everyone is able to cope with a situation in a similar manner. The effects of Corona vary from person to person. My life drastically changed due to this - and for the worse. But there are people who have turned around during this phase. I haven't been able to adapt fully to the WFH phenomena. I will anymore prefer going to an office for work because for me work is not just about working. It is a lot more. It fulfills behavioral needs such as meeting people, team-building, etc. which is just not possible in the WFH model.
Section 2: Solutions to these problems
-ex: Meeting more people
Section 3: Action points
-ex: Go to events
Comments
Post a Comment