Unexpected impacts after working from home for a year

March was a hard month. It started pretty well and seemed like things were going well until the end. However, that inspired me. An issue with many personal development/ wellness blogs is a lot of times they are so set focused on the positive things, that when negative things happening they only try to focus on the positive.

In life, we are always going to have our good days and our bad ones. We can’t hide from them nor neglect those emotions. If you put an object under a blanket, the object is still there, and you know it is staying there until you acknowledge it then take action to remove it.

Having a real discussion about things that can be seen as negative or positive based on your perspective can be beneficial because it shows not everything is as perfect as people make it out to be online.

This is based on my experiences, so it won’t be the norm for everyone but I’m hoping these experiences are relatable.

1.Texting and phone communication has become a lot harder

I used to question why it’s hard for some people to text back until the pandemic. As time at home increased, I just saw a shift in how much I want to be on my phone and talking to friends. I used to be a person where pretty much anyone can text me, and I probably would respond within the hour unless I was asleep or didn’t have my phone on me. It’s gotten difficult to manage because with me being very available people tend to come to me with things, and at some point, it becomes a lot. I love that people can come to me and trust me because I create that space where they feel it’s okay for them to vent if they need to or if they need advice or help in some way. Truthfully I don’t have that same space. If someone doesn’t ask, I don’t say anything, and even if they do ask how I am, the chances are if I already know how you are, I would be very vague. There are very few people who know in full context of the good and the bad, and it’s not because I don’t trust them, but it’s more about energy. Sometimes people’s priorities are different and the things that you feel happy about won’t seem that interesting to them. People’s experiences also limit them from seeing troublesome things. I would rather keep things to myself than feel the heartbreak of feeling misunderstood.

I’m not sure if many people will feel that way about their friendships. Every person is different, and how they act as a friend won’t be what you necessarily defy as a good friendship. It doesn’t make them a bad friend or person. It just means sometimes people aren’t good fits for you, and that’s okay.

2.Being comfortable with yourself, but as soon as you need

to go out your body image is distorted

I don’t have to go out frequently, so I don’t. However, when I do it is always mentally draining. For instance, I was assisting my mom, so I had to put on regular clothes. At home, I’m used to wearing leggings, skirts or something just stretchy and comfortable. I tried to put on these pants, and they’ve grown to be too short and tight. I also tried on this jacket, and it was too tight around my chest and arms. When I try on clothes and learn they no longer fit me, I instantly get extremely upset and discouraged to leave the house. If it wasn’t important, I probably would’ve stayed home because my mood was ruined for the entire day. Mentally, I’m a lot more positive, but body image is still an area I struggle with deeply.

3.Had to cut down news consumption by a lot

This is something I feel like some people have a hard time admitting because they don’t want to come off as uninformed or uneducated. The news, especially over this past year had been the majority bad news. Of course, there are the sprinkles of good things, but it’s never enough to balance out all the negative we hear. As someone who studied journalism, news stations have gatekeepers that essentially decide what we hear. That is why taking a step back for your mental health shouldn’t be looked down upon, and it doesn’t mean you don’t care or that you are trying to pretend that certain things don’t happen. It just means you are mentally exhausted, and you need to take in things at your own pace.

4.Having an increasing amount of headache

For me, it's because of how much time I spend doing school work on a laptop. If I need self-care, I cannot just watch shows or movies. It has to be something that doesn’t require looking at a screen. My favorite things are drawing, painting, journaling, reading, listening to a podcast (or music if I’m in a mood to dance), painting my nails, and doing a skincare routine.

5.Not knowing what to eat anymore

This is relatable if you are a picky eater. There are many things that I don’t like including Fish, peanuts, peanut butter, mushrooms, soup, etc. However, I’m also trying to be healthier and not consume as much red meat such as pork and beef. I also am avoiding certain frozen foods because I want to make things from scratch. Chicken is okay, but I feel like I had too many variations of it to a point where I got bored of it. So I look through some recipe books, blogs, and Pinterest for meal ideas to try but there’s nothing I want, and sometimes I don’t want to cook things too far out of my comfort zone because I don’t want to waste food. A lot of people are going through food insecurity and financial troubles so I would rather stay in my comfort zone to not waste food or money.

6.Having to fall back into things that used to be more

natural for you

In high school, I would consider myself moderately athletic. In 10th grade, I did dance classes again (before that I did hip hop classes in middle school and then stopped one year). While I didn’t do sports in 11th or 12th grade, I did work out frequently. It used to be so easy for me to do dance workouts, HIIT, and core workouts. In college, my first semester I wasn’t working out often. So my second semester I took a jazz dance class for PE and convinced my mom to also let me get a gym membership. And then covid happened. I couldn’t go to the gym and lost motivation to participate in my online jazz class. Now here I am in my 4th semester (about a year later) and I’m still struggling to work out consistently even with me being home all time. I feel like I need to start all over again and learn how to love exercising again instead of thinking of it as a chore to lose weight. I’m looking at ways to shake up my routine instead of trying to do things that worked for me at a time of my life that was extremely different.

So that is all for today. I’m not going to tell a story at the end like I usually do because with each point it was like a mini-story/ explanation. I would love to know if you found this to be relatable and if not I would like to know some of the unexpected things that happened to you after working from home or even just from this year in general.

Remember to subscribe to my Youtube channel, and follow my Instagram and Twitter to connect and stay up to date. I am excited about next week's blog post so make sure you come back next Saturday. Until then, there’s a lot more content on my youtube channel. I hope you have a good day, evening or night.

Until next time,

xoxo Lay 💋