Now What?! Virtual is our reality

These days, the majority of people nationwide are experiencing at least one component of their everyday lives virtually. Parents are having to work from home while their children are attending school virtually in other rooms. Homes with both parents working from home and children virtually attending school can be a huge adjustment.

There are so many facets to get used to in order to make it your new normal. (I used to hate that term, but now I realize it doesn’t necessarily need to have a negative connotation.)

Admittedly, I am not a person who shifts gears or changes practices swiftly. I assimilate as expected, but it generally comes with all sorts of inner turmoil. But even creatures of habit like me can see that our new way of staying efficient doesn’t have to be miserable.

I know that my experience working from home looks very different from those of people who are sharing space and bandwidth with a spouse and children. I also know that those who are juggling those obstacles on top of children who are not school age or who are special needs are running into roadblocks that I can’t begin to comprehend. That is to say, take my suggestions with a grain of salt.

1. Try to stay organized. This is difficult even when everyone is working and schooling outside of the home, but during these virtual times, it’s another full time job. There is something about staying organized that gives a level of sanity and control to an otherwise out of control period. When most things have a place, it can make things feel a little more settled.

2. Have a designated work space for each person working in your house. This goes for your students as well – they are working, too. When everyone has their own space, they develop a sense of routine and comfort. There are all sorts of suggestions from websites (namely Pinterest) about individualizing students’ virtual classroom. For adults, it is important to establish a set workplace to maintain professionalism.

3. Keep as much of your routine consistent as possible. Whether you are working from your home office or your kitchen table, it’s important to still wake up at roughly the same time to shower and get dressed for work as you would in the office. Not only is routine important to sanity, much like being organized, but it helps us establish boundaries between our work life and our personal life. Otherwise, we are wandering in and out of work projects throughout the day and night, and the lines become blurred. This isn’t healthy and becomes difficult to maintain. It may be helpful in establishing boundaries to not use designated workspaces outside of work time.

4. Stay checked-in with your loved ones. Even though we are in the house at the same time during our virtual school and zoom meetings, we sometimes stay to ourselves even during offline times. Take walks, watch a movie together, read for fun on the couch – anything that isn’t required. The tough part is not taking your off time to stay on your phone or game consoles. Stay plugged in with your family and friends by staying unplugged, if that makes any sense. It’s a little too easy to slip into email or get caught up texting instead of chatting with those around us. This is an unprecedented time of looking at screens, so maybe the new normal can include more logging off at the end of the work day until the next.

These suggestions cannot work for everyone but should work for some. Anything that helps ease the angst even the slightest bit during times of adjustment and change is worth a mention.