I love my home office!
I spent nearly 2 years working from my dining room table, getting interrupted, distracted and feeling guilty for having all of my ‘stuff’ taking up our communal eating space!
I don’t know what took me so long to decide on an outside office but, I suppose, I was in denial about CV-19. I thought it would be gone quickly, and as things escalated I still thought it wasn’t really happening. How daft is that and why did it take me 2 years to take action?
My blood pressure was steadily rising with every virtual workshop I delivered and I could feel the stress and anxiety building. Would the WiFi be good enough or will the tech work? Would someone walk in or ring the doorbell? Was the window cleaner due or would the delivery driver knock persistently?
But now, I am out in the back garden with wired WiFi and some distance between me and the house! I am so much more productive and, when I leave the office, the door gets locked and that’s the day done!
It was tempting to put a beer fridge in, a pool table and make it a dual purpose office and play room, but I resisted! I do have a dart board and a TV though, just in case the world cup requires me to leave the front room and my wife watching her programmes. (That’s my excuse anyway!)
I do also have a cool box somewhere ????
Sometimes, when everyone has finished their work days, they join my in the office and we all play darts. I didn’t realise my maths was so bad! My wife made the rule “No calculators” and it is certainly making us brush up on our forgotten skills. The main thing, about playing darts, is we are connecting and spending time together. As your kids grow and get older, they get busy with their own lives and suddenly you are like passing ships in the night and, eventually, they leave home, become independent and set up their own homes.
I saw a couple of Fathers on ‘morning time’ on TV and they were talking about how their sons had committed suicide and how they wished they’d asked better questions when they were alive. Questions about feelings and mental health and how, maybe, they should have listened more to the ‘music behind the words’.
Spending time with family gives you that chance to connect and have better conversations. I really want to maximise our time together and I want to create memories with my family but I also want to make sure everyone is ok and have the skills to be resilient but also to ask for help when it’s needed.
Life is difficult, complex and tough, at times, but it is also fun, exciting and full of joy. Having someone to talk to and share all of those moments with, is important.
When was the last time you ‘played darts’ with your family and really connected, had great conversations and understood what is going on for