I took this picture before I realized I left the portable hard drives I need for work at home. I was waiting for the wonderful baristas at Britton’s Coffee Company to make my drink. I realized what was happening when I got in my car. Somehow, I remained calm as I doubled back to make sure I had what I needed to work in the office for the first time in about a month. I have COVID to thank for that mood regulation.
You see, before COVID, I commuted every day to Baltimore. I had a very regimented system that only made sense in my head. I had to juggle what I needed for work, for lunch and for any post-work improv or social obligations.
Not only that, I worked in the kind of office environment that existed back then. Everyone knew the general rhythm of each other’s day, and there was an expectation that certain people would be in a certain desk chair for a specific period of 8-9 hours. If that didn’t happen, the entire ecosystem could fall apart.
I have not worked in a punitive office setting for a long time, but there were expectations. So if I needed to return home and pick up something I had forgotten, I might have to shoot someone an e-mail or a text to let them know I was running late in case someone needed me first thing in the morning. And there was always the feeling that I needed to adjust my departure if I came in even a little later than normal.
When I realized I would have to add 15-20 minutes to my morning in order to get the hard drives, those thoughts crept back into my head. But as I started to pull out of the parking lot, I talked myself out of that angst. Over the past two years, people have either stopped caring as much about that stuff or I have come to understand that they didn’t care as much as I worried they did.
So I strolled into the office a little later than I expected and saw only one person (out of the four I think will be in today) had already arrived. No urgent e-mails had popped up. My Microsoft Teams chat was silent. And I was still smiling.
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