Working From Home: Why It’s Not All Bon-Bons & Unbrushed Hair by Terri Kendrick

When people hear you work from home, they immediately conjure up a mental picture of you in your pajamas, alternating between watching soaps, eating bon-bons and talking on your cellphone from a chaise lounge. Well, there’s no doubt that working from home affords you a certain freedom and flexibility that even the most virtual office situations and laissez-faire bosses can’t or won’t give you.

But working from home is hardly all bon-bons and unbrushed hair. It involves some definite sacrifices and compromises.

• Flexible (24 Hours a Day): Sure, a telecommuter’s workday is much more casual and fluid. You can do your laundry at 10 a.m., take a nap if you choose, put the chicken on at 4 p.m. for an early dinner guest. But while you have a very long leash during your workday, that leash never really comes off. You’re literally at work 24/7. When you pass your computer on the way to the kitchen, the bathroom, the bedroom, its blinking lights and beeps will beckon you at all hours of the day and night.
  

• Stuck in the House: Although the scenery is far better at home, working where you also live deprives you of a change of that scenery. The progression of your day is marked only by a change of rooms – rather than of venue – and on some days, you may never even have a reason to venture beyond the front porch. Cabin fever is a real thing!

• Not a Creature Was Heard: At home, there’s no one to disturb you, interrupt you or just plain annoy you! But there’s also no one to say, “good morning,” or talk about last night’s TV show, no one to vent to or get excited with. I’ll take a distraction that is human over electronic any day!

For a little over a decade, I adored working from home. No amount of money or perks could lure me back into an office. But lately, I’ve found myself staring longingly at people in office settings and envying them their camaraderie and collaboration. I think I’m ready to trade in my yoga pants for work clothes again. There, I said it. 

Now I just need to find someone who will hire a bon-bon eater with unbrushed hair!

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