I loved reading this and learning more about your background, Rosana, thank you!.
I was diagnosed with AuDHD not too long ago, and suddenly my career, strengths, weaknesses, relationships, etc came into glaring clarity - some of the impetus to even consider getting diagnosed was exposed by remote working.
Working from home wasn't new to me (I traveled a bunch and had social outlets at conferences, meetups, client meetings, etc but I could also focus, eat when I wanted, use the bathroom when needed... ). I started to think that I clearly had productivity challenges and boosts that were unrelated to me being 'lazy' or 'stupid' something I'd been telling myself my whole life (Kendra, just get another planner, this one will work! Or, make a schedule, put it in your calender, set reminders, just be BETTER). Why did I feel so much better working from home, yet I was still inconsistent with simple expectations?
When Covid hit I lost my social outlets completely. Things felt different working from home ,and the threat of impending global doom / high schooler learning from home / family health scares and death... left me wondering 'what is wrong with me?'. (hint... executive disfunction and burnout from two decades of trying to pretzel myself into someone else's ideal working conditions and schedule).
To your post's question, I love working remotely (with travel and social outlets). I'm also curious about the intersection of wfh/productivity/hormones (perimenopause? I didn't even know there was a 'baby' menopause...) in women and how this has brought others insight into their own typical or neurodivergency.
What I know about myself is that I've never neatly or happily fit into a corporate schedule, but both wfh and in-office has provided both support and hinderance in my career to give me those insights. I'd suggest trying both options for those early in career, and those who haven't tried both later in life. They might learn something really valuable about themselves, beyond what we get paid to do!
That's a great suggestion for people early in their career, Kendra! It sounds like you've been going through a lot in recent years. I feel a bit out of touch with my solar peeps, as I've gone to very few events since RE+ 2019, not even many events here in the Bay Area.
Interesting about your later diagnoses. A friend of mine found out she was autistic in her 60s! It's more than a label; these insights can really help us understand and accept ourselves. I sometimes think I'm part autistic but don't think I really am and don't want to minimize actual autism — I do think there's a wide spectrum of ways to be and I'm a bit on the "weird" side (see https://flowerchild.substack.com/p/how-to-be-weird). And I find the various personality categorization methods illuminating — for instance, learning I'm a "Rebel" in the Four Tendencies framework (https://gretchenrubin.com/four-tendencies) made me realize that my dislike of schedules may be part of my biological makeup.
All too easy for us (in this culture, anyway) to think we're lazy, eh? I'm the queen of that!
When I was younger no one talked about perimenopause, so I have no idea if I had it — and I had surgically-induced actual menopause at age 51 but am on HRT, which is a big help.
Good luck navigating through all that, and I hope to see you one of these days!!
Reading this post reminded me to send out the Zoom invite to the Far North Editors meeting I'm hosting tomorrow (2nd Wednesday each month). I also Zoom monthly with a very small group of retired/retiring editor friends. I LOVE working at home. Have been exclusively for 20 years. So I was one of the very lucky ones in the Covid shutdown; all that changed was my publisher clients were working at home, too. Note, we live in our own home in a small town, near protected forest lands, with a garden that's half backyard wildlife habitat and half flower garden with a vegetable patch. I can pop out there any time. Paradise!
We were just watching "The Devil Wears Prada 2," and at one point I observed "Working in an office. Gah!!" I don't miss it AT ALL.
Your thoughtful exploration of the pros and cons of remote work really made me think about my own situation. I'm an independent consultant and all of my work is either remote or site-based, meaning I either work from home or I travel to my clients in other states. Summer is my slow season, so it's mostly remote, and I'm starting to notice the effect on my mood. I think I need to go outside more and/or get a walking desk.
So many people are in similar situations! I find it striking how different it feels now from when I was younger — because my husband also works from home, because I have the flexibility and available friends to see people during workdays, and (though this one is a double-edged sword) because it's easier to feel connected to people with texting and the internet. And I can connect with people like you on Substack!
Our collective Western culture seems to make us lonelier, partly through digitalized "experiences" that might otherwise be in-person conversations, games, and yes, work. Alienation continues apace even if that term is less frequently used to describe it. But humans need to be social, even if we drink from the same polluted digital "news" and "experience" sources.
But perhaps there will be some cause for hope, even in the digital world. For example, I notice that newer independent news analysis channels seem to be aggregating people into social engagements that seem to go well beyond "influencer" podcasts. One of them, Transition Protocol on YouTube, is almost old fashioned in that the contributors speak with extreme politeness and respect to each other, and that seems to make the live comments generally more polite than expected. Sorry that this comment was more about loneliness than work, but it seemed related.
Hey, you can comment on anything you want — and it is indeed related! As I noted, the increasing loneliness is caused by much more than just working from home. And leave it to you to work in your news analysis ... addiction? Obsession? Special interest?
I prefer "informed passion". In case any of your audience/tribe wants to discover "independent news analysis," I can recommend all the following on YouTube.
Transition Protocol.
Moral Resistance.
Dialogue Works.
Glenn Diesen.
Danny Haiphong.
Mario Nawfal.
Scott Lucas Worldview.
The range for the above trends international, so you can guess what the latest subjects are. Most of this is long-form conversation, where calm tends to prevail.
I loved reading this and learning more about your background, Rosana, thank you!.
I was diagnosed with AuDHD not too long ago, and suddenly my career, strengths, weaknesses, relationships, etc came into glaring clarity - some of the impetus to even consider getting diagnosed was exposed by remote working.
Working from home wasn't new to me (I traveled a bunch and had social outlets at conferences, meetups, client meetings, etc but I could also focus, eat when I wanted, use the bathroom when needed... ). I started to think that I clearly had productivity challenges and boosts that were unrelated to me being 'lazy' or 'stupid' something I'd been telling myself my whole life (Kendra, just get another planner, this one will work! Or, make a schedule, put it in your calender, set reminders, just be BETTER). Why did I feel so much better working from home, yet I was still inconsistent with simple expectations?
When Covid hit I lost my social outlets completely. Things felt different working from home ,and the threat of impending global doom / high schooler learning from home / family health scares and death... left me wondering 'what is wrong with me?'. (hint... executive disfunction and burnout from two decades of trying to pretzel myself into someone else's ideal working conditions and schedule).
To your post's question, I love working remotely (with travel and social outlets). I'm also curious about the intersection of wfh/productivity/hormones (perimenopause? I didn't even know there was a 'baby' menopause...) in women and how this has brought others insight into their own typical or neurodivergency.
What I know about myself is that I've never neatly or happily fit into a corporate schedule, but both wfh and in-office has provided both support and hinderance in my career to give me those insights. I'd suggest trying both options for those early in career, and those who haven't tried both later in life. They might learn something really valuable about themselves, beyond what we get paid to do!
That's a great suggestion for people early in their career, Kendra! It sounds like you've been going through a lot in recent years. I feel a bit out of touch with my solar peeps, as I've gone to very few events since RE+ 2019, not even many events here in the Bay Area.
Interesting about your later diagnoses. A friend of mine found out she was autistic in her 60s! It's more than a label; these insights can really help us understand and accept ourselves. I sometimes think I'm part autistic but don't think I really am and don't want to minimize actual autism — I do think there's a wide spectrum of ways to be and I'm a bit on the "weird" side (see https://flowerchild.substack.com/p/how-to-be-weird). And I find the various personality categorization methods illuminating — for instance, learning I'm a "Rebel" in the Four Tendencies framework (https://gretchenrubin.com/four-tendencies) made me realize that my dislike of schedules may be part of my biological makeup.
All too easy for us (in this culture, anyway) to think we're lazy, eh? I'm the queen of that!
When I was younger no one talked about perimenopause, so I have no idea if I had it — and I had surgically-induced actual menopause at age 51 but am on HRT, which is a big help.
Good luck navigating through all that, and I hope to see you one of these days!!
Reading this post reminded me to send out the Zoom invite to the Far North Editors meeting I'm hosting tomorrow (2nd Wednesday each month). I also Zoom monthly with a very small group of retired/retiring editor friends. I LOVE working at home. Have been exclusively for 20 years. So I was one of the very lucky ones in the Covid shutdown; all that changed was my publisher clients were working at home, too. Note, we live in our own home in a small town, near protected forest lands, with a garden that's half backyard wildlife habitat and half flower garden with a vegetable patch. I can pop out there any time. Paradise!
We were just watching "The Devil Wears Prada 2," and at one point I observed "Working in an office. Gah!!" I don't miss it AT ALL.
Yes, having a great outdoor space to go to makes a big difference! I didn't have that when I was freelancing in a studio apartment.
Your thoughtful exploration of the pros and cons of remote work really made me think about my own situation. I'm an independent consultant and all of my work is either remote or site-based, meaning I either work from home or I travel to my clients in other states. Summer is my slow season, so it's mostly remote, and I'm starting to notice the effect on my mood. I think I need to go outside more and/or get a walking desk.
So many people are in similar situations! I find it striking how different it feels now from when I was younger — because my husband also works from home, because I have the flexibility and available friends to see people during workdays, and (though this one is a double-edged sword) because it's easier to feel connected to people with texting and the internet. And I can connect with people like you on Substack!
Our collective Western culture seems to make us lonelier, partly through digitalized "experiences" that might otherwise be in-person conversations, games, and yes, work. Alienation continues apace even if that term is less frequently used to describe it. But humans need to be social, even if we drink from the same polluted digital "news" and "experience" sources.
But perhaps there will be some cause for hope, even in the digital world. For example, I notice that newer independent news analysis channels seem to be aggregating people into social engagements that seem to go well beyond "influencer" podcasts. One of them, Transition Protocol on YouTube, is almost old fashioned in that the contributors speak with extreme politeness and respect to each other, and that seems to make the live comments generally more polite than expected. Sorry that this comment was more about loneliness than work, but it seemed related.
Hey, you can comment on anything you want — and it is indeed related! As I noted, the increasing loneliness is caused by much more than just working from home. And leave it to you to work in your news analysis ... addiction? Obsession? Special interest?
I prefer "informed passion". In case any of your audience/tribe wants to discover "independent news analysis," I can recommend all the following on YouTube.
Transition Protocol.
Moral Resistance.
Dialogue Works.
Glenn Diesen.
Danny Haiphong.
Mario Nawfal.
Scott Lucas Worldview.
The range for the above trends international, so you can guess what the latest subjects are. Most of this is long-form conversation, where calm tends to prevail.
“Informed passion” — good term!