Confessions of a Workaholic Stuck at Home

I admit it. I’m a bit of a workaholic. Always have been. It’s a combination of three things really. My upbringing by a single school teacher mom who taught me to work hard and be responsible. In my chosen field of advertising and marketing, there is always more work to be done – especially if you are on the creative side – and more new things to learn. And, finally, I love what I do. I truly enjoy the work.

When I had an agency job, it wasn’t unusual for me to work until 7 or 8 at night. So much so, that the family got used to always eating dinner in the 8 or 9 o’clock hour. And then, for most of the last year, I’ve been a on my own. So, I have multiple clients I’m doing work for. And on top of the work I do for them, there’s prospecting, billing, taxes and research to do. I was fortunate, in that my main contract work with a communications firm put me in an office downtown. I loved being downtown in the heart of things.

So, I still tended to work late, and then do some more on weekends. My family has gotten used to my absence over the years. Getting home late, I’d always stay up and watch some of the late night TV shows with my wife so we had that time together, which meant I usually got by on 5 – 6 hours of sleep, which was fine. If you know me, you know I love coffee.

Then the Coronavirus Pandemic Hit

Even several weeks before the stay home orders came down, I was mostly working from home. Now, I’ve been working from home for over 2 months. Despite all the things I miss, it’s actually been a good thing. I still work like a madman, but I am getting to spend more time with my family than I have since, well… since ever, really.

We have a home office where I spend most my time. And even though my wife pretty much leaves me to my work, we do talk on and off all day. During little breaks, we can have a quick chat, I can give her a squeeze, take a moment to help her do something like help start dinner or even just bring her a snack or a drink. Other times, she’ll pop in to my office with an insight she wants to share or surprise me with a delicious skillet dish I smelled her cooking the entire time I was on a conference call. Other times, we’re not together, but I can hear her yelling at Trump on the TV in the other room. Always makes me smile. Those little connections mean a lot.

Sure, I still will work until late a lot of evenings. And I have to put in the time on the weekend. But she reminds me to take a break and go for a walk or just go out in the yard. I don’t eat lunch at my computer every day like I tended to in the office. We’ve agreed, I need to take one day off each weekend. All of this is good for my mind, body and soul.

Lessons Learned

Sometimes you get so caught up in the work you do, you forget the rest of your world. Sure, the work is important. Sure, you enjoy doing it. But there is more to life than that. It’s easy to forget that when you’re deep in it. So, it took the whole world shutting down for me to step back and get some perspective.

It’s a horrible thing the world is dealing with right now. I don’t know what will happen when we finally go back to whatever “normal” will be after this. I talked about some of the changes I thought might stick around when this is over in my last blog. But in my little workaholic corner of the world, this craziness has brought some good. And for that, I’m grateful. How about you? Where has your perspective changed?

Mike McClure, admitted workaholic

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