Let’s get real. Adapting to working from home during the COVID 19 crisis is a challenge. A huge one. For those of us with school-age kids, remote learning takes this challenging situation to another level. My new “co-workers” include my two middle school boys, my husband and my yorkie. In just a few short few weeks, I have morphed from a gym-going, professional working mom with evenings and weekends packed full of sports-related kids activities to a non-exercising, short order cook with zero weekend plans who is conducting staff meetings from my closet just to have some quiet. My world is upside down. It’s madness. Sheer madness.
As women communicators, we are highly adaptable people. We can handle high levels of stress, deadlines, last minute media requests, anything that that’s thrown our way. At the end of the second week of attempting to work from my kitchen table surrounded by my new co-workers, I had to put myself in check: Get it together and manage this situation. Here are the top 5 things keeping me sane while adapting to working from the kitchen, closet and everywhere in between.
Free Webinars
The best thing going right now are the hundreds of webinars available for free that would normally have a fee. I’ve attended webinars on marketing, donor communication, understanding Google analytics and more. These have been such a great way for me to stay on top of techniques and market trends and exercise my brain power. Resources: Bloomerang for Non-Profits, HRDQ-U, Harvard Business Review, and of course, AWC’s Know to Grow webinars.
Free Workouts
Like many others, my gym is posting daily workout videos for members. You can access all kinds of great workouts for free right now on You Tube and via apps. Resources: Orange Theory and Pop Crush Fitness on YouTube, FitOn app, Six Pack in 30 Days app available for iPhone and android (Ok, I admit I haven’t tried this one yet. But hey, everyone needs a goal, right?)
Social Apps
At this point web-based meetings are old hat. My how a couple of weeks can thrust us late adopters into the 21st century. Even my boys are having church youth group via Zoom. My girlfriends and I had a happy hour and played games together via a social app. This is a trend I can see sticking around even after we’re no longer social distancing. It’s fun and a great way to cut out travel time to and from meetings. Resources: How-to and hilarious backgrounds for Zoom meetings, House Party face-to-face social app for smart phone or desktop.
Live Music from Your Living Room
One of the bright spots for me has been the awesome live entertainment and virtual concerts streaming on Facebook and YouTube. Almost every evening, we are treated to a living room concert by our favorite local and Texas musicians, a concert from Jazz at Lincoln Center, and even watched a streamed, previously recorded performance of Les Mis. This is an especially difficult time for artists of all kinds, so I encourage you to tune in and support your art community. If you want to check out a Lubbock local favorite, Bo Garza.
Headphones for the Win
God bless our Nana for giving my people AirPods for Christmas. Headphones are the only way all four humans in my house are able to work from the same space on a daily basis. I’m not hip enough for AirPods, so I grabbed some cheapie ear buds during a CVS run. Lifesaver. Resources: AirPods, Sony wired earbuds with mic for $10.
About the Author
Michelle Stephens is the executive director for an arts non-for-profit organization in Lubbock, TX. She leads the organization’s strategy, fundraising and community outreach. Before joining the arts community, Michelle spent 16 years in healthcare communication, marketing and advertising.
A former AWC Lubbock Chapter president, Michelle has been involved with AWC for more than 15 years. She is an AWC Lubbock Chapter Communicator of the Year Award and AWC Chapter Star Award recipient. Michelle and her family are active volunteers in the Lubbock community and received the 2018 Volunteer Center Family Volunteer Award. She holds a BA in Public Relations and Honors Studies from Texas Tech University.
1 thought on “Staying Sane While Working from Your Kitchen Table”
Helped me a lot, just what I was searching for : D.