I just read this article from Slate magazine, "The Case Against Working at Home" by Katie Roiphe. In it, she illustrates exactly the same sentiments I've been having lately. It's amazing to work from home, but not much gets done.
Take today, for example. I have two new classes starting less than two weeks from now. One class, the online course, I have been developing for months, and I still feel completely unprepared. The other is an on-the-ground course, the equivalent of English 102, but I've never taught it at this particular school. I intended to begin crafting it today, but there's just so much else going on.
In another post, I'm going to explain the homebuying process as we've been experiencing it so far. Let's just say, I had no idea there was a difference between "pre-qualifying" for a loan and getting "preapproved". To get pre-qualified, you talk to a lender or a broker over the phone and give them some personal financial details. To get preapproved, you need to send over to that lender or broker lots of paperwork. I spent all day trying to download .pdf files of bank statements, 401(k) statements, paystubs. I gathered tax documents from the past several years. All the while, the baby was tugging on my leg and and cooing, "Mama! Mama!" Visions of me, standing up in front of a classroom full of annoyed students, with nothing to say or hand out, flitted through my mind.
I know, I know. I procrastinated. My point is, it's so easy to do when you work from home! I wake up, change and feed the baby. After we eat, we go back upstairs and I open the laptop while the baby plays. But oh! I just remembered I need to balance the checkbook, or buy diapers online. Then it's time for the baby's nap. I'm still in my pajamas or sweats, and I feel gross. So I get in the shower. Afterwards, as I'm towelling my hair dry, I see the baby on the monitor, standing up, waiting for me. Round two: Lunch. Try to get more work done in the afternoon. Then Bruce is home, and I just want to spend time with him.
It's not impossible. I could wake up and take a shower before the baby rises. But I don't. I could work when Bruce gets home, for a few hours after dinner. But I never do. I need a new routine. It's exactly like exercising or eating well. Most of us know we should; it doesn't mean we do.
I thought to myself the other day: Wow. Look at how little I completed, and this was one of the days I actually tried. I could've gotten this same amount of work done in just a couple hours, had I gone in to the "office" (faculty room at school).
"Stop complaining, Annie!" I can hear the protests now. "You get to spend all day, practically every day with your child! You know how many women long to have that comfort?" I do! Men, too. I told Bruce I was going to write about this, and he laughed and offered to switch with me at any time. Well, my situation is unique in that I also spend the entire day with his father, which is awkward. Regardless, the idea is that we all want what we don't have.
The article makes another argument: we are all working too much anyways. Who can disagree with that? My sister-in-law's company took her business cell phone away, but still expects her to take calls after work hours on her personal phone. She's having a hard time refusing. I check my emails every day; the students expect an immediate response. School encourages us teachers to make ourselves "available". It works both ways, too. I went to a faculty symposium where a fellow instructor presented a paper on the benefits of the web as a supplement to regular face-to-face classes. "Now assignments don't have to be due on the day class meets," she beamed. "You can have them submit them online! You can have them participate in online discussions outside of class!"
Those poor students, I couldn't help thinking. When do they get a break?
We all need a break. I need to get out a little more. Bruce wants more time at home. I'm pretty sure when the elderly talk about how "it all went by so fast" this is what they mean. We're all go, go, go, all the time, in our own ways. Just think, a few decades ago people didn't even have tablets and laptops and cell phones with internet to check constantly. How fast will it go by for us? How much will we have really accomplished, and will those accomplishments be the ones that matter?
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