A day of Academic Work - On campus versus Home Office

It has been a while since I wrote about a "day in the life of girlprof". These two vignettes offer a brief glimpse and opportunity to compare pace, balance and wellness between an On Campus Workday Vs. a Home Office Workday. 

Campus Workday

Wake up. Start Coffee. Feed cats. Slurp coffee while doing an hour of email and preparation for a day of meetings. Shower. Dress in professional clothes. Nylons. Heels. Breakfast at home, or a smoothie in car on way to work. Drive 40 minutes to campus in rush hour traffic, often doing a hands-free phone meeting from car. Unpack bag, hit the restroom. Meeting, Email, Meeting, Phone call, Meeting, Email, Meeting. Lunch, if I brought one, mostly over my keyboard trying to get work done from meetings. If no lunch, granola bars or scrounged food bolted down between meetings. Afternoon meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting. Occasional drop-ins throughout the days. Sporadic walks across campus to a workshop. Drive 40 minutes home in rush hour traffic, often picking up takeout for supper, often doing a phone meeting from car.  Rushed dinner, sometimes with family, then catch up on a few household tasks. 

Home Office Workday

Wake up. Coffee with husband. Feed cats. Read email. Eat a cooked breakfast on a plate. Use actual silverware. Early phone meeting. Start a load of Laundry. Shower. Dress code casual. Bare feet. Zoom meeting. Do work from meeting. Zoom meeting. Put clothes in dryer, plan supper. Walk to mailbox and back. Zoom meeting. Lunch on deck sans laptop. Fold clothes. Prep supper. Zoom meeting. Check on garden, turn on sprinkler. Zoom meeting. Do work from meeting. Move sprinkler. Zoom meeting. Start supper. Turn off sprinkler. Greet children and talk to them after school. Do work from meetings. Enjoy a family meal. Engage in clean up and picking the night's activity. 

Of course, this is a simplified and aggregated example of two days, shared for the insights on pace, balance and wellness they might offer. The one vignette offers insight into the lack of balance an institutionalized workday can become and the other vignette offers insight into the wellness and balance that can come from working and living at home, often in bare feet, without gobbling over a keyboard.