Is the looming thought of no longer working from home scary?
Most of us have been working from home for the last two years due to the global effect that COVID has had. Granted we have had a lot more freedom compared to the early days of having to be quarantined at home, but the pandemic is still looming over our heads as we wonder if it will ever get better. Since most of us have made the change in the early days of COVID to working from home, we have made adjustments and changes that are now more preferred compared to the office environment before the days of the pandemic.
There are a lot of people out there who don’t enjoy working from home. The fact that there is more isolation, less social interaction with co-workers talking about whatever pop-culture trend is going on during that time and may also just miss the basic availability of snacks their office may provide. We can all probably imagine how torturous it could probably be for someone’s mental health being so isolated. It could cause those types of people to lose mental focus, lose the ability to be productive, and in some cases feel that the walls are closing in on them.
Sure, these people who thrive in a high social work environment can be saddening if you are stuck working at home and barely seeing anyone. Even in the modern age of vastly improving technology where people can communicate and be social on a number of levels, some people can still feel alone without someone physically there to keep them company. Over time someone feeling this way may even slump into a deep depression. Being dragged down into any kind of depression can be very bad for us mentally and also physically. We lose sleep, we get more irritable, and we could even feel a loss of appetite or drive.
Mental health isn’t easy for anyone in any situation. It is a constant dual personality struggle we all have to deal with internally from time to time. It is a never-ending battle that we all hope to win, but sometimes don’t. On the flip side of changing office environments due to COVID, may also affect people who thrive on working from home. Working from home has been a blessing in disguise to some people. More often than not many of the people you may work with are putting on a mask to hide the internal mental struggle they are having in an average office environment.
The fact that someone who is dealing with these things like social anxiety, mental sensitivity to constant noise, fear of panic and etc. while working in a crowded office can be mental torture. It can feel like you are being backed into a corner with no possible escape in sight until the clock strikes five. It is more common than you think. Many people out there feel like this every day they go into an office and work. Because this is more common than you think and hard to relate to when you are on the other side of the spectrum, working from an office environment doesn’t always sound as enjoyable as people think.
With the need for social distancing slowly becoming less and less strict, many people who have been working from home may start to be asked to return to their work office environment in order to get back to some “normality” or “the old days”. Because the word has been spreading around that a good number of companies are asking their employees to return back to the office, many people who have felt more comfortable, have lower levels of stress, and an improvement of their mental health by working from home are starting to worry.
People who have found joy in the isolation of working from a small room in their home are starting to feel that creeping of fear running down their spine with the thought of having to come back in. One thing many people don’t realize is people who suffer from mental health issues tend to not like change, especially when it comes to having to leave an environment that has made them feel safe and less stressed. Most of us don’t like change in that retrospect. We like a comfortable, relaxing, and calm environment where we can thrive. This is even more true when it comes to our careers and how we earn our money to live.
Even if your manager or team lead says they are hoping to get people back into the office with no date in mind could cause someone who prefers to work from home a bit of panic. If you are one of these people who prefer to work from home and hate the idea of returning back to the office, then there are some ways you can approach your management to help you feel less worried about things.
The first and only thing you should do is to reach out to your management and let them know how you feel. If you let them know that due to working from home you have been able to manage your mental health better and your work shows it, they may work something out for you that allows you to continue to work from home full time. Of course, when it comes to working from home most employers will want to make sure their work from home employees is actually working. If you have shown them time and time again during the whole time you have worked from home, you shouldn’t have an issue.
Your employer may also want to work something out where you come into the office maybe once or twice a week by having a hybrid work schedule in the office. Some people have felt this is a pretty good compromise when it comes to having to make a change. The biggest thing to take away from this is you shouldn’t have to worry about things like returning to the office. If you keep worrying and don’t talk to your employers, they will never know how you feel and not be able to help you.
