Category: Ink Pot

Striking the balance as a work from home parent

A poignant post on LinkedIn by a woman leader about work from home and personal life “imbalance” caught my eye yesterday. You can read Kim Crean’s post – She wrote me a note – here. It got me reassessing how it’s never been easy for working parents. The pandemic-driven work from the home situation has brought all our job stress, conversations, and reactions to the home.

Children hear everything; they imbibe our stress; they wonder about our problems. They are struggling with loneliness and online education. As a parent, I have had moments like these in the past 2 years. The workday begins early and goes on until you can convince yourself not to check the next email.

The lessons I learned was to:

  1. Keep the weekends free and for the home. Resist the temptation to check emails unless there is something really important going on. Every weekend cannot have something demanding urgent attention.
  2. Be aware of your child’s schoolwork and online interactions. Let them know you are there to guide them. Take interest in their day. I helped my son with some essays for his winter break homework this week and I enjoyed it. We learned things together.
  3. Take a break, sneak in a snack, indulge in a light banter in between work, just as you would do in the office. Don’t remain glued to your home office. Your child will also get a break from constant screen viewing.
  4. Even the youngest of kids can understand things explained to them. So, if you know there is an important meeting coming up, let them know. Talk about the importance of being quiet and disciplined for that half-an-hour. Thank them for adjusting. Reward appropriately, if needed. Acknowledge their contribution to your work life. It usually sets a trend and the children pick up cues for similar circumstances.

My 11-year old has held up post-it notes asking something when I am on a call. How different is it from diversions at the workplace – the message ping, a quick scribble of Lunch! on your desk whiteboard by a colleague, a gesture from across the hallway by a friend? It is not. Take it all in your stride.

We are humans navigating the strangest of times. Be gentle with yourself. A few years down the line you will recall. these days with your children. Your family 👪 is the best team you are working with right now.

Jubilation, Interrupted

I usually sleep after midnight but on New Year’s eve, I dozed off at 11:00 pm. I was brutally woken up by loud wailing. It took a moment to realize it was people shouting, hooting, and celebrating from balconies in our gated community to usher in 2022. The jubilation still sounded like wailing to me!

I lay half-awake thinking the word to describe this cacophony is “lament.” Even the bursting of firecrackers could not shake off this thought. At one point it became eerie. Maybe it was the memory of gloom and despair playing on my mind. When you know a large part of the world is hurting and fearful, the dread seeps in to our lives. How we perceive the world around us depends on our inner state.

Each one to their own. The optimists do make our world better and keep alive hope but 2021 was cruel. The cheerful and the inherently happy bring a much-needed emotional balance. The New Year 2022 starts as a reflection of the past 2 years, with similar events unfolding. It is as if we are stuck in an endless cycle. In 2022, many lost loved ones and suffered emotionally and financially. Last night for every cheer there was a tear, somewhere, and this is a realization that stayed with me. This is a humbling thought and even in the background of sadness, it fills me with gratitude. Hope and gratitude remain the driving force for another circumambulation around the sun.

A Year of Good Reading

It has been a most fascinating and rewarding year for me as a reader 📖 and book reviewer. Especially, after I joined Reedsy Discovery as a reviewer, books 📚 became an integral part of my daily schedule. You can read the book reviews here: https://reedsy.com/discovery/user/aneeshashewani/reviews

Then, I started receiving author review copies (ARC) from the Himalayan Book Club and discovered new Indian writings in English. It was the impetus I needed to dedicate time to my love for books. I am hoping for 2022 to be as enriching. I have also been contacted by writers who wanted me to read and review their books. I graciously accepted their offer and already have books on my to-be-read (TBR) pile.

Reading has slowed down a bit as I finish some professional courses and prepare for exciting and new work challenges in the New Year but I hope to see another glorious list like this on GoodReads at the end of 2022.

Winter blog posts for WriteFluence

I participated in the @WriteFluence December Blog and Win challenge by penning down 3 blog posts overflowing with Christmas nostalgia and personal experiences.

Do read, comment, and vote for all three. I am sure you will enjoy the reading experience:

This season, take away the winter blues

Christmas cards – Can we revive the tradition?

The Aroma of Christmas

Paper and Pen

I have been consuming a lot of learning material these days in my professional area. Podcasts, videos, PDFs, blogs, and trainings. The use of devices has always resulted in fatigue, diversions, and attention deficit. I was consuming but not retaining. I have downloaded PDFs, presentations, and copy-pasted snippets in Notes apps, yet the semblance of organized assimilation of information was missing. My mind was not processing the information completely.

So, today I went absolutely old school. Picked up a notebook and pen, placed my phone on a stand, and just watched or read, and took notes. I have been at it for hours now and the learning is definitely more focused.

It may be a personal choice because people these days prefer digital learning through podcasts and short videos. However, even with training videos, I like to read the transcript. I feel the old ways are the best. For me, any number of digital highlights, bookmarks, and notes in the Cloud can not replace the immersive experience of pen ✒️ and paper 📝.

Incidentally, this is something I recommend to my son also, especially since all classes are online. I tell him notes-taking and creating learning maps and tables help to retain information.

One of the recommended techniques for proofreading and editing is to read the printout. I know of editors who prefer doing it, however, printing out reams of information daily for marking is extravagant with environment-related implications ♻️. Over the years, I have moved to effectively review and edit PDFs.

With self-learning, I am probably going to fill in some more notebooks. 📒 📓. Here’s to #happylearning with #paperandpen to
#writeandlearn. What is your favorite learning style – do you take notes, do you have beautiful notebooks filled with doodles and cursive handwriting. This reminds me of a gorgeous post on BoredPanda that compiles fantastic handwriting samples. See it here.