Pros and Cons of Working From Home
Throughout this pandemic, we ALL have been forced to work and go to school almost completely remotely. For some this might be the best thing ever, but for others it causes a lot of challenges. What can I do to make my GrandPR fun while being virtual? What can I do to get that same motivation that I always had in the classroom to be the same in virtual class? How can I keep myself accountable for my work? Not only has this been a challenge for college students and professors, but it has been a challenge for all levels of education.
Who has this challenged?
The parents that now have to take themselves back to long division in 3rd grade math to try to teach their frustrated child.
The parents who have been working from home, and got a break from housework.
The front line workers who bust their butts everyday to keep our communities and their families safe.
Everyone has been affected in a different way.
Is there any way to be optimistic?
I like having the option to change the wall I stare at. I can stare at my wall in Grand Rapids, or I can stare at a wall at home... No really that is becoming a pro to me.
I no longer feel like I need to spend money on an expensive daily Starbucks drink, or a meal that sounds good from the campus cafeteria.
I can now stay in my pajama bottoms and look like I am dressed nicely because all that is seen is chest up.
I have the luxury of making my own schedule, sure there are deadlines, but if I want to watch a lecture video at 2pm instead of 8am, I can now do that.
I can sleep in, and get up 5 minutes before class, or even better, do my class right from bed.
A lot of people have long commutes to school and work, through working from home, we have all in some way been able to save on gas.
Working from home is great due to the fact that you can do other things while working, if you need to quickly vacuum or empty the dishwasher, go for it.
And finally, you can’t beat forced family time. Okay, maybe we couldn’t beat that 6 months ago…
How have I been affected?
Like most things in life, I see my glass half full. I try to view the challenges that life throws at me in an optimistic way, but sometimes that is hard. Being that it is my senior year at Grand Valley, has probably been the most challenging aspect of being all online. All of the relationships that I have created with my classmates and professors are now all virtual relationships. The beauty of Grand Valley is now seen through my phone screen and seeing their posts to various social media platforms. I sit in my room with my headphones in, staring at the same wall, all day everyday. While it is hard enough to stay focused during the day, we still have the 6-8:50pm classes that are often dreaded when they’re in person but even more so online.
I began to get discouraged lately hearing that next semester is looking to be the same as this, virtual. My mind instantly ran to commencements… will all my hard work seriously be seen through a virtual commencement ceremony? In this moment, I found myself truly feeling for the people that had their sports, classes, and work life turned completely upside down back in March. We can try to make virtual health “classes” to help relieve the stress this has added to everyone’s life but that only does so much. Gen Z’s already have the connotation that we don’t know how to communicate effectively unless it is virtual and now that's the only way all generations can communicate. So now I guess maybe that is not such a bad problem we have.
The difficulties of working from home:
Without the personal interactions, motivation is slowly dwindling.
Many people don’t have the luxury of having a home office, so working in the same room you sleep in causes a lot of distractions. Yes, I am speaking from experience.
It is getting so hard to find the motivation that I never thought possible to lose.
Now take away the breaks that were put into our academic calendars, and you have a mess of stressed out, overworked, unmotivated students and professors.
About Kendall:
I am at senior at Grand Valley studying advertising and public relations. This is my first semester at GrandPR where I serve as an Account Executive. I have learned a lot about myself, leading a team, client communication, and time management throughout this experience. In my free time, I enjoy spending time outside, finding new coffee shops, and exercising!
