I was SUPER excited to work from home at that beginning of this pandemic! I was MORE THAN HAPPY to give up the alarm going off before sunrise, the frantic drive to the train station, the crowd on the train (forcing me to stand for 1 hour — I know, first world problems!), and the grumpy morning faces of my colleagues before their caffeine hit!
Yes, I was ready to turn that in for a life of rolling out of bed 5 minutes before my alarm went off. I was ready to start the day in my warm, comfortable pyjamas, with my hair in disarray and my breath pungent, so that I could ease into the morning tasks after a lovely sleep in every day. I was looking forward to GAINING two hours of my day back due to less travel time.
It sounded like heaven! And it was … for the first few weeks…
Like everyone in Australia (and in fact, the world), I’ve not only been at home Monday — Friday, but weekends as well. After I caught up on the sleep I’d missed since Christmas, it was suddenly all too easy to blur the line between work time and relaxing time as I now did both in the same area (small house problems!). Two things happened:
- I found it hard to switch off and was suddenly dreaming about work deadlines and unanswered emails
- I felt less of a passion for work. I had my rituals before lockdown, and although I complained, maybe those rituals allowed me to get my brain into ‘WORK MODE’, thus allowing my passion and tenacity to invisibly reset with a ‘new day’ attitude
The more I thought about this, the more I wanted to do whatever I could to create work rituals to both get me excited for each work day but also allow me to switch off!
So.. I started….. wearing my work heels… during WFH days.
At first it was HILARIOUS. I would wake up and get dressed (the heels really made me want to ditch the dressing gown as the style clashed), and put on my 6-inch heels to sit at my computer in the kitchen, ready to start my work day.
No one saw them, but I felt a difference. Not only did my brain start associating work-time with heel-time after a few days, but I also found it exciting. Everyone, including Beyonce, looks better in heels. Therefore, the slight (but I would say still significant) increase in self-esteem really helped make work more enjoyable.
It seems ridiculous that changing (or in my case, putting on) shoes can transform your whole WFH life! But I think these are uncertain and challenging times for so many reasons. Even if we find one thing- no matter how crazy it is- that makes getting out of bed a teeny, tiny bit easier, why wouldn’t we do it? And if we look fabulous whilst doing that thing, that’s a bonus!
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