I work from home for a living. I go into the office, on average, once a week. At the present, I don't really work closely with a team of people, so I really don't have a need to go into the office. However, I have to say that I absolutely hate working from home. The main thing I miss is the people. I like working with people. I like to run my ideas past people and get their opinions. I like to help other people with their problems. Right now, I live my life behind a mask of email and text messages. It is so boring. I don't get to hear another adult's voice until my wife comes home at night, and you can only listen to the TV or radio for so long before it affects your concentration. Furthermore, working from home severely limits your career movement. That's not something I'm overly concerned about, but it certainly doesn't add anything.
So, why do I work from home? For my kids. My wife works an hour from where we live; she's a nurse in a children's hospital and she loves her job. I wouldn't ask her to change that for anything. However, with two children, someone has to be available to pick them up in the afternoons from school and watch them. This is the job that I have chosen to do. When my wife was in nursing school, I worked for a company that was an hour away. I really did enjoy it. The company and the people were great and I loved being in an office atmosphere. When my wife graduated, we moved away and we both worked near the home. However, this meant that the kids were in day care until 5:30 or 6:00 every day. That was not how I wanted my kids to be raised. So, we moved back home and I took a job working out of my home again. It was a hard thing for me to do; those closest to me know it was a real struggle. Nevertheless, it was the right choice. The kids are the most important thing and one day they will be old enough such that they won't need me here. Until then, I'll chat away online and thinking to myself that working from home sucks.
Don't get me wrong, if you work in an office for a living, then working from home occasionally is a nice change of pace. On the other hand, working from home permanently is like being locked away in solitary confinement. You end up stir crazy talking to the dog or yourself, typically both. I often wonder what other people do in this situation. Does one of them not work? I can't imagine asking my wife to not work, she loves what she does. Do people leave their kids with other family members? Perhaps they go the day care route, or maybe something else that I'm not considering? I know my solution to the problem, but I'd be curious to know others' solutions and why.
21st Century Breakdown - show review
13 hours ago
9 comments:
Hi Tanton,
I agree with you! Just couple of days back I wrote an article which addresses how relationships might get affected if both partners work from home and the possible solutions.
Great work, keep it up.....
http://www.myhomebizguide.com
I'd love to work from home. I can't stand dealing with people all day. They drive me nuts.
I have been working from home for the past 10 years with a very successful business, but hate the solitude.
I have 3 hours at night, when my wife gets home for social interaction, period. For a time, I have even started drinking out of bordem. So for all of you work at home wannabees, working out of the house isn't a bad thing. If I could do both I would.
I worked from home for a couple years and loved it. Now I'm working in an office and hate every minute of it. I wish I had the opportunity to go back to working from home. I envy you!
I used to work from home. It was GREAT. There is a period of ajustment though. I remember it took me three months to get used to being by myself and liking it. Once I got past that, it was awesome. I really miss it. You have a good thing going. Just make sure you find a good group of friends or some kind of social group to have some fun. There are alot of things you can do to break the solitude. You and your family can even participate in volenteer activities meet people.
I've been working from home for nearly 6 months and cant stand it, purely because of the isolation factor, i find myself sleeping longer and making myself depressed. I feel it doesn't give much career progression either! Do you think after a period of time I will snap out of it?
HI...been working from home for 6 months...like the freedome but do go stir crazy...have always wanted to do this so am a bit surprised that I get bored and lonely...
been working from home and living alone for almost 5 years. i'm in therapy now. i'm a social person, but the money has been so good that i have been sticking it out. i've become pretty depressed and picked up some bad habits from the past years. looking forward to the day i get the balls/courage to quit and work another "real" job, not one where i am a zombie behind the glow of a computer screen.
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