Are you asking the same question that I am today??
Where did summer go?
Wasn’t I just out in my yard doing Spring cleaning? Planting flowers?
Going to the pool?
Even though Fall is my favorite time of year – I wonder who put time on speed cycle?
Most of us spend so much time working. Less and less time gets spent with our families. I’ve noticed this
trend in my own life and I work at home. Be careful what you wish for, eh?
My goal over the winter months (which is my biggest work push season) is to get “work” under control. Honestly.
I really want my life back.
I enjoy my work – I really do. I feel blessed, happy and fortunate. I’m healthy and my family is healthy. We have a nice home, food in the fridge and two decent cars.
But I think what is missing for a lot of us is just “time” to unwind. Time to just sit and be. No TV, no laundry to do, no meals to fix, grocery shopping to do.
Has your “me” time turned into walking the dog, volunteering at your child’s school, getting the oil changed in your car….or maybe if you live in my area…you’ve spent hours in gas lines!
I miss the days of just sitting on the porch and reading an entire People magazine. It’s funny how something that seemed so minor has now become something significant to me. What once was just a given….has now become a valuable commodity. Sitting down, putting my feet up and reading a favorite magazine = LUXURY for me these days!
Do you feel the same?
How do we get back to simpler ways??
We are women that:
1. Love working at home.
2. Moving toward working at home full-time.
3. Want to work at home or bring in some supplemental income each month from home.
4. Run a full or part time home based business from home.
5. Run a direct sales business from home.
6. Run a company full time or part time from home.
7. Telecommute for a company or as an independent contractor full time or part time.
All these are wonderful. I have met so many successful and ambitious women that do their own thing!
Having a “job” or business that’s based out of our homes is empowering.
But it’s also taking a toll on us.
How?
I guess I feel the main way we’re “losing” ourselves is that we can’t “walk away” from our jobs at the end of the day. It’s always there. Whether it’s a laptop on the couch in the living room, a computer in the corner of the dining room or a whole room that’s been dedicated as a home office – it’s ALWAYS THERE.
Our hours are becoming erratic. We work late into the night. Early into the wee hours of the morning. We’re getting pseudo ADD quirks because we have to start and stop our train of thought a million times in one day to deal with “domestic” matters. And if you aren’t being interrupted – for the love of God, share your secret with the rest of us!
And what about the physical issues? Sitting at a computer all the time isn’t good for you.
I spent last Sunday at an urgent care facility because I couldn’t move my neck. I could NOT move my neck. At All! Driving was impossible. Lifting my head off the pillow was excruciating. The pain had gone on for 4 days before I went to see a doctor. What was it??
Pulled muscle.
Pulled muscle from having my neck bent down for long periods of time working on my laptop!!
We must take better care of ourselves. We must separate our “home” work from our “home business” work. Otherwise….the whole dream of working at home becomes a Freaky-Friday nightmare.
This is where again….I say….be careful what you wish for.
So….for my sake and yours….lets go over some ground rules again for working at home.
1. Designate a space for working. This does not mean you take your iPhone and your laptop into the family room with you after dinner and constantly check Twitter updates and keep your head buried in your laptop. THIS IS THE FAMILY ROOM! Treat it like one. Unwind. Let it go. You will not save the world tonight. I promise.
2. Get off your butt and take at least a 30 minute walk EVERY DAY. Your house is NOT Big Momma’s house. You don’t want it to be Big Momma’s house! You are an active, happy, excited mother that works at home. If you want it to stay that way….you will respect your body’s limitations and exercise it daily. Incorporate stretches at your computer desk while working as well.
3. Yes…working at home gives you access to whatever you’ve bought at the grocery store 24/7. That means those Halloween Oreos (one of my absolute favorites!!) will call your name constantly. You cannot sit and eat them mindlessly at your desk. Again….get up….get some blood circulating down to your rear and legs! Go in the kitchen and fix a delicious, healthy meal. Today I had a tossed salad with apples, lettuce, cucumbers, celery, raisins, broccoli and light deli turkey in it all tossed with a little vinegar, lemon juice and olive oil. I am NO chef…this is easy ladies!
4. Nurture your mind. Read something other than what you can bring up on a computer screen. I realize we have ipods, iphones, laptops, computers….oh the world is just a click away….
But pick up a book. Take the time to sit and read it. Just a few pages a day. Maybe it’s a magazine….whatever…
Just sit down and feed your mind something different than what I call “screen food”. Your eyes, your neck and your brain will love you for it.
5. Your family misses you. Oh you’re there physically…..but you aren’t mentally. I give this advice whole-heartedly to myself the most. The people in your home, both small and tall deserve your full attention. Whether it’s a picture they’ve drawn you, homework questions or help with finding something — you’re the mom. You’re the glue. These people love you unconditionally – no one else in the world does. Be glad they are coming to you with what’s important in their life. Everyone should be so lucky. You DID start working at home to BE THERE for them in the first place, right?
6. Give yourself a break. I know it seems like if you’d just put in one more hour of work you’d be over the hump….but I promise….it doesn’t ever work out that way. There are more humps. Lots of them. Those humps will be waiting for you, hiding around the corner. You cannot be in “Code Red” mode all the time. You’ll fry yourself.
I don’t give you this advice as some kind of condescending lecture. I live this life. I need to take my own advice. I’m down in the trenches with you. As a matter of fact…..I’m the goof, with Oreo crumbs on her face sitting right next to you in that trench asking….“Where did summer go??”
By Kelly Land, © 2008-2009, All rights reserved.
