There was a time in my life when I wondered what it might be like to a) be my own boss or b) work from home permanently. I’m currently getting a taste of the working from home opportunity and it has been eye-opening.

To be honest, working from home is not that bad. I mean I can work from the comfort of my own house and the work seems to be done smoothly. However, this situation might have built up a burden on the shoulders of the firms or entrepreneurs to ensure data and cloud security as most or all of their employees are working remotely and there is a constant sharing of data online. Though using software similar to Google Cloud Security safety and security could be achieved seamlessly, I am not sure how the company owners feel about this new normal. This is certainly something entirely new for everyone but it is also interesting to see how some enterprises are trying to keep the employees happy using different tools. See for instance the company I am employed in. This firm tends to give us opportunities to play virtual team building games and participate in other activities to strengthen employee bonds. We get our meetings hosted on virtual event management platforms where we feel like we are talking to each other in our office-yes, it offers a very realistic experience. I feel that taking the help of technology has prevented workplace misunderstandings and also contributed to productivity. The truth is that all of these have changed my perspective on looking at remote jobs–earlier, I used to wildly claim that I would never want to work at home permanently. Actually, plenty of individuals do this each year, where they make their income online through websites potentially similar to Portmoni or even through working on eBay.

Anyway, though there is no problem with respect to the job, I feel like changing my tune after three full months of working remotely– and it is related to how an individual can balance their personal and professional life. There’s a lot to love between having flexibility and minimizing in-office distractions. As we head into the summer months though, I’m starting to notice one very obvious negative to it.

I know that this is in large part due to the pandemic, but because of these circumstances, we have very little to look forward to. Vacations and getting away from your home are at everyone’s own discretion currently. If you’re playing it very safe though, you likely don’t have anything on the books. In a way, does it makes sense to request time off when we have so much flexibility now? If so, does it feel justified? What do we do with that time in a pandemic?

With 4th of July just around the corner, this is top of mind for me. Originally, I had wanted to wait until I had had a win at work so that I could justify taking a couple extra days for myself. This isn’t always easy when you know that there are others that depend on you. I remembered though that over Memorial Day, I was lucky to have four days and that did wonders for my mental health and ensuring that I didn’t burn out. So while we may not be going anywhere, it’s helpful to remember that an extra “weekend” day is not a day wasted when it’s for yourself.