I can’t imagine that any of us will remember April 2020 with fond memories, so reviewing the month isn’t the easiest.

April: Reviewing the Month

By the time April arrived we had been in lockdown for almost 10 days. At the time it didn’t seem to difficult, staying indoors to avoid a global pandemic was obviously the best course of action. I had run some reports on the system at work so I could settle with my laptop and be busy whilst our office was closed for the foreseeable future.

However, by the second week it became clear that working from home wasn’t going to be easy. This wasn’t a case of working from home, this was staying at home but being expected to do work. A challenge when I work in a Library and physically can’t do my normal job from my house.

It seems so strange to moan about not being able to work, but I was finding in increasingly difficult. WE were logging in to Microsoft Teams twice a week to check in with each other, keep each other updated, and discuss the official emails that had gone out each time the government guidelines were updated. Others in my team were continuing with their usual tasks, but I was feeling like a fraud. I was genuinely having to make up tasks each day and they weren’t covering my contracted hours. I was only working a few hours a day and feeling awful for it.

Every time I stepped out of the house for a walk or to do some food shopping a voice in my head was telling me that I should be at home working. Every time I took a couple of hours for lunch or to watch a spot of daytime TV the voice would tell me that I was skiving and not putting in the work like everyone else.

The worst part was that, despite having a desk I don’t just sit at my computer for hours at a time when I’m at work, I walk an average of 9500 steps a day, but suddenly I’m at home, taking just a few steps to the kitchen and the bathroom. Tiredness is suddenly overwhelming and the increase in headaches is a horrid distraction.

Then as we head towards the end of the month a weight is lifted, any department not directly involved in sales and making the company money is being furloughed. I know for a lot of people this is a worrying time, but for me, at the moment, it is a relief. The stress of having to cobble together tasks just to make myself feel productive has been taken away.

Of course, we don’t know how long this is going to last, and it’s a worrying time for everyone but I’m heading into May feeling just a little better about the situation.

How was April for you?

Let me know in the comments.