How the pandemic made me never want to return to the 9–5 life

Before the pandemic, I was your usual 9–5 worker: Getting up early just to rush over to the office on time, either going out to lunch or preparing my meals beforehand, and then stressing out when it was finally time to go home at 5. However, when the pandemic started, we were all sent home. And so began my experience with remote work.

I used to say I wouldn’t like remote work, or that going into the office was something that I looked forward to, but boy, was I so wrong. Remote work is definitely something that isn’t easy at first, but once you get used to it and see all the benefits, you’ll never want to go back!

At first, I had a very uncomfortable chair, didn’t have an extra monitor, and pretty much was lacking a lot of gear to make my work at home easier. At my office, I had two monitors, a standing desk, and a stocked kitchen! Of course, at first I wanted to go back to that, but luckily over time, and after making some smart purchases (and sales!), I was able to start getting the right equipment for my home office, and making my experience better. You’ll definitely want a comfortable chair, a lamp, and a stand for your laptop or some good mouse and keyboard. They don’t have to be expensive! Just look around and find some affordable options, or try to scout some good sales.

After my remote working experience became enjoyable, I was able to look at all the great benefits remote work has, which can be summed up in one word: flexibility! You get to decide your hours, how to distribute your hours, and pretty much everything about your day. Are you a night person? You can work at night! You can also spend less time at lunch, so you can finish earlier, or if you have a family, spend some quality time with them at lunch or dinner. One day you wake up and you suddenly want to work in the kitchen, or even in your garden? You can do it! (If your Wi-Fi agrees with you)

One of the other things that make remote work so great is that now errands don’t seem so impossible! Before, having to do errands around the house, or maybe going to the doctor, calling someone to fix something on the house was stressful, since you needed to take some time off work, and disrupt your 9 to 5. But now, you can just go and do those things! You can take some time during the day and work later that day, or wake up early.

Everything good so far, right? But there’s a minor thing, which is: socializing. I think it’s a combination of the pandemic and remote work, and as someone who started to do remote work during the pandemic, I agree. When you work remotely, you don’t have to interact with other people from your work face-to-face, which might be good! But in my case, I do miss my co-workers, and it’s the only part I miss from the office: going for a quick coffee, or just chatting during lunch, it’s those little things that made going to the office fun.

But, all hope is not lost! As vaccinations keep rolling out, it keeps becoming safer to go out, and socialize with other vaccinated people, and there are ways to keep socializing! In the near future, you could go some days to a co-working space, or just go working to a café, or simply being able to go out after work with your friends, family, or loved ones will fill that social void that some of us have during this pandemic.

I fell in love with remote work, and frankly, I don’t want to go back to the daily routine of commuting, and spending 8 hours in an office. With remote work, you have more time to spend on things you need, be yourself, and work the way you want to work. I’m definitely happier, more relaxed, and I’m sure most people who switched to remote are also.