“These walls are kind of funny. First, you hate ’em, then you get used to ’em. Enough time passes, gets so you depend on them.”
– Red from The Shawshank Redemption
The (necessary) coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown of the world has shown me many things; one of them is that working from home ain’t for everybody.
Now, before I go any further, let me hastily point out that some people don’t see their company’s offices as prisons or plantations.
The truth is, some people love what they do and completely enjoy every day when they are at work.
Every company has a few persons who are there before the rooster puts his undergarments on and leave when the ghosts have already awoken and have started roaming the halls.
But for (I believe) a great deal of the world’s population, the workplace, wherever it is, is just a place they go to earn the necessary money to buy the necessary bread they need.
I’ve always felt that some employees give everything, sometimes to the detriment of their own health, when they’re within the company’s walls.
But when they’re ‘off the clock’, they get to ‘breathe’. But with this working-from-home thing, it can feel like you’re still within the company walls, even when you’re physically within your own walls.
THE ‘NEW NORMAL’
It’s all about routine. The ‘new normal,’ which is one of the many terms being thrown around like frisbees these days, may never be normal for workers like those.
If you think about taking a nap, you might think, ‘Hmm, maybe I should be working on that report’.
Depending on the nature and specific schematics of their job, some may not be sure when they’re ‘at work’ and when they’re not. That can mess with your headspace.
The workaholics, on the other hand, are like pigs in mud right now. They’ve never been happier.
On a similar note, there have been many memes comparing the lockdown to what prisoners go through every day.
I’ve always had a fear of prison. It’s equally about what they take away from you (your freedom) and what you get in abundance – time.
You see, when you’re ‘behind these prison walls’, like Jah Cure used to sing, you’ve got a whole bunch of time on your hands.
Now, some people will use that time to better themselves (learn a skill, further their education).
But others will use that time to fret about any and everything. For example, they’ll worry about what the people who held them in high esteem think of them now.
If they were borderline crazy before, being confined will almost certainly take them over the metaphorical edge.
For the people who have plenty of time at home these days, God knows what’s going through their heads right now.
Thoughts about all their mistakes, their regrets, unfulfilled dreams, loves lost – all will surface at these uncertain times.
And that is no bueno. Do me a favour? Check on your friends, even (and especially) the ones who always seem like they have it all together.
They may be prisoners in their own minds more than anything else right now.
Link me at daviot.kelly@gleanerjm.com.
