Since we removed the ‘workplace’ from work, time has opened up more than anyone could have imagined or wanted. Working from home has earned its own acronym (WFH) not to mention a cautionary tale.
“I felt less productive but more exhausted than ever.”
When we add in Zoom calls and subtract the obstacle that is commuting to work, we reach a terrifying conclusion to a wholly unbalanced equation. We can contact each other at any moment; evenings, “days off” and over lunch. What even is a weekend now? Time feels limitless but it’s not. It’s a limited currency and I don’t know about you; I don’t have a lot left in the bank.
Over Lockdown, I was confronted with this tricky equation. How do I balance studying with Facetimes, daily walks and essential banana bread baking? I felt less productive but more exhausted than ever. Desperately, I wished for the smallest shred of normalcy to return. Yet, I dreaded what this new limitless time would do to our “normal”. I feared that the ‘workplace’ would cease to exist and yet work would be everywhere we looked.
“Putting in place boundaries especially with our time and energy is a healthy part of life that we all need to master.”
With my new limitless time, I found myself reading and reviewing more which I must admit is one blessing Lockdown has given me. After hearing the rave reviews of Florence Given’s “Women Don’t Owe You Pretty”, I decided to give it a go. I even wrote a review of my own. And a funny thing happened. The kind of funny that happens what you read the right book at exactly the right time.
Given’s book is overflowing with wisdom despite only being a mind-bending 21 years old and I could have picked out any lesson from it to take with me from Lockdown. There was one that stood out and one that I needed to hear more than the rest. Chapter 8: Protecting Your Energy deals with everything from the free emotional labour we give others to why society makes us feel guilty for setting those boundaries in the first place.
It is not enough to say no once. Putting in place boundaries especially with our time and energy is a healthy part of life that we all need to master. There might not be a truer saying than “Time is Money”. Well, except to say that we are its bankers. Given advises us to “be smart with your energy, treat it like the currency of your business”. We need to check in and be aware of the time we are giving others and the world around us so that we know how much there is left in the bank to give.
As the world begins to open up again, we can’t forget how social distancing and our physical boundaries have protected our health. For now, we still need them but as they fade, we cannot let the emotional boundaries we need to protect our energy to do the same. Balance the books, don’t overextend ourselves. Since we can’t help anyone if we’re writing checks our bodies can’t cash.
Rebecca Carey
Featured Image Courtesy of anncapictures via pixabay.