Out of Office
With South Africa announcing that it will come out of Level 5 lockdown next Friday, I felt a mixed sense of relief and anxiety knowing that the “norm” would resume.
Lockdown has been an experience of polar extremes in this household: my partner has not been able to work (all retail except for essential services was shut down), whereas I have not stopped. I would imagine that this situation is not dissimilar for most legal households. For many of my clients, the uncertainty of “what’s next?” has driven them to work harder, pivot, innovate and reflect. It’s been the perfect opportunity for them to get their ducks in a row.
What it has meant for this household is that we have not seen any more of each other during the day than we would usually, despite being no less than 12 metres apart at any given time! In some respects, it saddens me to think that we didn’t take the 5-week opportunity to spend better quality time together. In other respects, I am immensely grateful that one of us has had the chance to earn during this time.
So, yesterday, I decided to pop the “out of office” on, step away from everything coaching and legal world related, so that we could spend the day together. We played Scrabble, watched TV, did an obstacle course with the dogs and finished the day hosting our last “Publess Quiz”. It felt good to stop. And this morning, I woke up feeling refreshed, positive and ready to face the week to come.
I realised that, in these current times more than ever, we must CONSCIOUSLY CREATE BALANCE between work and life if we are going to retain our mental, physical and emotional strength and productivity.
So, tell me, what are you going to do this weekend to break the work cycle?