Dream vs Reality
For most of us stay at home mothers, the idea that we can possibly continue with our ‘careers’ whilst raising mini beasts, is like dreaming that we will one day find a pretty multi-coloured unicorn munching chocolate leaves from a money tree in our back garden. Most of us mothers resign ourselves to the fact that, while we are at home, the chances of us getting any real work done are highly unlikely.
So regardless of whether you are a mother thinking of taking on the ‘working from home whilst being a mum’ role, or indeed if you are NOT a mother and you are thinking of swapping the 9-5 rat race for a more lenient work from home lifestyle, there are a few points you may want to take into consideration. This is the Dream versus Reality…
Dream. When you are planning to work from home, you think about the ease of it all. Having your kitchen fully stocked with everything you may need and your comfy jumper to hand when you feel like snuggling up – even the idea that you can lounge on the couch and work if you have an ‘off’ day. Suddenly ‘Duvet Day’ takes on a new meaning.
Working from home is simply the same as chilling in the house and being paid for it. Right?
Reality. WRONG! The second you start working from home you realise that in actual fact, the reason you NEED to work outside the home is to give you a reason to get up and motivated. You need a reason to get showered and dressed. Otherwise you have no reason to move and would quite happily sit in the same pyjamas day in and day out until the end of time.
Dream. Working from home means that you don’t have to put up with those idiots in the office making small talk with you before you have had your daily quota of coffee.
Reality: Sitting at home means that you become incredibly anti-social and suddenly find yourself unable to hold a conversation with anyone, unless you are tapping away on Facebook Messenger.
Dream. You get to choose your own work hours. No more worrying about the commute to work for an hour before working the strict 9-5 with the pathetic half an hour lunch break in-between. Surely there can be no negative on that front?
Reality: You end up working all hours of the night because you over indulged in a three hour lunch break to catch up on last week’s episode of Scandal.
Dream: Working for yourself means that you get to pick all the fun jobs that you wouldn’t normally be allowed to do in an office.
Reality: Working for yourself means that there is only you to do all the work. Which means there is no one to delegate all the horrible, tedious, time sucking tasks that will inevitably crop up daily just to ruin your day and suck time away from those fun jobs you were so looking forward to.
Dream: Having Skype on and showing that you are available = I’m sat at my desk and working. Even if in reality I am secretly watching a movie and just moving my mouse every few moments to show I am still working.
Reality: Watching that movie is just prolonging your day, and you know you are gonna kick yourself for it later when you are sat up ‘til midnight finishing that piece of work you could have finished HOURS ago!
Dream: Working from home means you don’t have to put up with listening to all that pathetic water cooler gossip, bitching and backstabbing.
Reality: When you are working from home and not IN the office, guess who is now the butt of all the office gossip?
Dream: No more having to wake up at an ungodly hour. The work day starts at 9. Fabulous, that means setting the alarm for 8:30 right? A pee and a cup of coffee and you’re ready to go!
Reality: After a month of getting up at 8:30 rather than 7:30, you suddenly start thinking 8:30 is still too early to get up and you push the snooze button a few more times each day… because let’s face it, it’s always gonna be too early to leave the comfort of your own bed!
Dream: No more pointless interruptions. Example: “Hey Duchess, you look super busy. Fancy grabbing some lunch?” Duchess: “Well, I am super busy, that’s why I look super busy, so if you don’t mind I need to get back to my super busy work!”
Reality: You may no longer be distracted by people, but at home there are a million other distractions to face. Such as, those YouTube videos you simply HAVE to watch, and it’s so much easier without a boss hanging over your shoulder.
Whether you work from home, or in an office 9-5, the grass is always going to look greener on the other side. The plain fact of the matter is that, no matter where you work the fact that you do have to work is the issue. So instead of dreaming of working from home, or regretting you made the decision in the first place… make the most of it. After all, we all need to learn to work to live, and not live to work!
