How often do you turn your camera on when you join online work meetings? I am not a big fan of live video calls for work, because I enjoy taking every advantage of working remotely – meaning working in my comfortable hoodie sweatshirts and putting on my dorky glasses.

I’ve been holding off on turning on my camera for as long as I could — until yesterday. I had a work meeting with a new director who prefers face-to-face video calls with attendees. One hour before the meeting, my colleague suggested to me that I use the camera for the first impression.

I found myself in an uncharted territory and scrambled to figure out 1.) how to turn my laptop camera on for the meeting, 2.) how to adjust my camera, so I look like a normal human being (believe me, the built-in cameras on the laptops are rarely meant to make people look normal), 3.) how to put on the minimal makeup to cover my dark under-eye circles and add some color to my lips without looking like I have any makeup on, and 4.) the lighting – the key to the clarity of the video image.

I spent 45 minutes just to solve the four problems above. All of these were just to get myself looking normal enough to make a decent first impression for work. The thought of caring about my looks for a remote work meeting seems obnoxious at first thought, but, this shallow action is so important because you want people to take you seriously. Once the first impression is formed, there’s no second chance.

I have some friends and colleagues who are fed up with working from home and found face-to-face video calls their only connection to the real world. But for me, on the other hand, I want completely the opposite. I want the luxury of sitting in my home office taking calls without having to think about how I look on the screen.

In conclusion, with the advancement of technologies available for working remotely, there’s pros and cons for people like me who prefer comfortable over accessibility.

The Cover Image: It’s a picture of my cat, Inca. I took this picture when she wanted to sleep. Her facial expression clearly shows how much she wanted to be left alone, but she had no choice. And that, is exactly how I feel about turning on my laptop camera for work.

I started my current job about six months ago. This is a work from home position. Right at the beginning of the job, everything was moving non-stop at a fast pace. My typical working day is about 10 to 12 hours. Sometimes I’d also have to work on the weekends

I am sure there are plenty of people having to work like this and they don’t complain at all. But for me, this is the most demanding job I’ve had in my life.

I am learning a lot of things, but my stress level skyrocketed during the first three months.  Not to mention the nightmares about the jobs that woke me up at night.

Luckily, I got better at adjusting my stress level recently. This is not because I got used to the job and can keep up with the rhythm. Instead, it’s the hobbies that I picked up in the past months that keep me sane and help me to balance my work-from-home situation.

The hobbies I have are playing piano, painting and reading books. Each weekday, right after I get off work, I play the piano for a couple of hours. In addition to playing the songs I already know, I tried to learn new songs every week. I then eat dinner, then work on the painting while watching some movie or shows.

The paintings I work on are the paint-by-number. So technically, I am coloring. But the coloring process is surprisingly soothing and calming. It’s definitely a different kind of art work.

I have a pile of new books I keep on my nightstand. Before I go to bed, I’d pick up one of them to read for a little bit.

Work Life Balance

How do these hobbies and the after work routine help me to balance my working from home life?

First, the hobbies help me to destress.

Working on a non-stop job stresses me out. Playing piano and painting calms me and allows me to relax. This is especially true when I play a song with a happy tempo.

When I am playing the piano and working on a painting, my mind is moved to a pleasant state, away from work. The process of learning new songs takes up my focus, so I can release the stress.

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Second, the hobbies give me the meaning of my current staying home life (due to the Covid-19).

When I spend most of my waking hours working at home everyday, I feel exhausted. I felt like the job had became my life and in exchange for my life, I get paychecks.

But the reality is that life means more than just a paycheck. Having the hobbies helps me to validate the fact that there are more to my life than work. I have control of how I want to spend my time, which is working on things that I enjoy to do.

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Third, the hobbies give me a sense of control and satisfaction.

I can’t control how work goes, because there are always more things to do. I can’t control when the pandemic will be over, so we can resume our normal social livves. But being able to hear the songs I play while I press each of the piano keys and seeing a finished paintings hanging up on the wall gives me the satisfaction of accomplishment. The end results I am producing prove that I have some control over my life.

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If you are exhausted from working at home and need a way to balance your work life, I’d suggest you pick up some hobbies that you enjoy doing.

Whatever your hobbies are, make sure you actually follow through the experience and have some end results (i.e. learning a new skill or working on a fun project). The worst thing you could do to yourself is not follow through with what you started and end up feeling worse than when you began.

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(Featured image: I sometimes enjoy sipping on red wine while I play my favorite piano songs. I find it is very relaxing.)

I started a new job four months ago to join a start-up group within a big organization. The great thing about this job is that it’s a permanently remote position — a very good thing with COVID-19 still around.

In my past jobs, I had the privilege to work from home whenever I wanted to. However, I’ve never started a new job completely remotely with no physical in person interactions. Everything is done via voice (but not video) conferencing.

(Let’s just say I am glad that my team is not into video conferencing.)

I knew this new job would be very challenging and demanding. That’s exactly why I wanted to take on this job offer. But the first month on the job was more stressful than I expected. Our group recently launched a world-wide initiative. Everyone is scrambling to keep the wheel turning while there are new deliverables added on daily basis.

My new boss and some colleagues have been working on this program for months and they assumed I was ready since the very first week and that I already understood what was going on. The reality is that they were too busy, and so they didn’t have time to onboard and get me up to speed on anything. And there was no written documentation that I could read about what my job responsibilities are, let alone about any specific instructions. The only way to learn the job was through the trial and error.

To be honest, those first weeks were probably the most stressful time of my career life. I constantly had nightmares about not doing well on the job. For months, I couldn’t even relax on the weekends.

It took me over two months to finally got a hang of it. Looking back, I am very proud of myself for what I accomplished. I am also grateful that my boss took a chance on me and hired me for the job.

When I think about the time when I first started the job, I have a list of lessons learned.

One, never be embarrassed about asking questions to clarify an action item.

Earlier on in my career while I worked in a software training company, we taught all the new software engineers to always ask questions to clarify any questions they might have. Asking questions do not make you seem weak — it’s a sign of strength.

Two, take some time to gather your thoughts when you are being put on spot to answer a question in a group conference call.

In my opinion, when you are in a in-person conversation, your facial expression or hand gestures are enough to show the other party that you are processing the questions. But this could be very challenging over voice conferencing. Don’t cave in to provide something you are not sure about.

Third, try to take mini-breaks and a lunch break; step away from the computer.

For me, this is the hardest thing to do. We are so busy and heads down on work and meetings every day. It’s hard to step away. Since I am working from home, I can’t shake the feeling of being obligated and available when someone or my boss pings me for a question.

Four, stop worrying about the job as long as you put your best effort into it. 

It took me months to finally learn how to relax since I started this new job. I was letting the job get the best of me instead letting it be part of my life.

In my opinion, working remotely has many perks, but it’s important to have a balanced life with work. After all, we only live once and we need to enjoy what we do.