Looking back on a special year with On-Point in Singapore
More than a year ago, Singapore entered a strict lockdown, called Circuit Breaker, to halt the spread of Covid19. This entailed working from home and not leaving the house for anything but the essentials for those of us who did not work for essential services businesses.
Before the Circuit Breaker was announced, many workplaces had started to implement a flexible work from home model to limit interactions and potentially prevent the contamination of all the employees. (An approach still favoured today by many companies for the flexibility it offers, even though most of the population is now allowed to go back to the office.) However, this initiative was short-lived as the government asked for all that could to stay home. Without much time to prepare ourselves or accommodate our living spaces, we ended up left to our own devices to find solutions that would work for us.
At first, it was easy to see all the advantages of this lockdown; working from home was not that bad. There was no need to wake up before the sun, no need to get into a suit that was only practical in an office where the aircon blasted enough cold air to make us forget that we were in a tropical country. Being at home meant having more control over our environment; we could be comfortable, cook something good for lunch, take a quick break reading, or do a hobby before going back to the productivity crunch. The joy of not commuting, of being able to be at home for something else than sleeping, was there.
But as the lockdown got extended, we became increasingly anxious. Not having anything to do outside made every little annoyance more difficult. Why were the neighbours’ children screaming all day long? Why was the table slightly wobbly? Why was the neighbour above moving furniture at 10pm every day? Why did being home feel like a chore? The days were never-ending. Waking up, turning on the computer, dialling in for the first meeting, working, having lunch, working, working, working, time to get ready to sleep. Rinse and repeat.
We had been so happy at the idea of re-appropriating all the time we thought was wasted and could have been better employed for our personal life that we were blind to what it meant and forgot to act upon it. Commuting was the buffer between our personal and work lives, the lunch break was a social moment with our co-workers, a coffee break was the perfect moment to get more input from those around us either to solve a difficult work problem or to hear about the best Korean BBQ in town, the after-works were an occasion to become more acquainted with those we worked with every single day of the week, a way to relax together and vent, a way to celebrate the big achievements and the small successes. Working in lockdown and working from home had removed the humanity from our lives. We turned into working machines, aiming for more productivity and yet never achieving enough, the hours became longer, and the amount of work never diminished. As our world closed itself upon us, confined within our homes, we started losing slowly parts of who we had been outside.
This situation lasting longer and longer, we had to pause for a moment and reconsider what we had become and what we wanted for ourselves. The conditions may not have been ideal, but we would never get this year back. Because these times were not as we wanted or expected didn’t mean we had to throw them away as if they held no value. Life was different, and as things reopened around us, we had to reclaim our private life. Going out for a walk or shopping, testing a new brunch place or this small restaurant we had heard so much about, scheduling back the after-works we used to have impromptu when we were all working in the same office. Finally celebrating all our achievements of the past year. Finally meeting face to face with the colleagues we had only known through a computer. Closing our laptop at 6pm on Friday night, or at least promising ourselves to try. We were still working from home, but we had gained a better understanding of ourselves and what we needed in life. It felt as if we had been holding our breath, waiting for a dark cloud to pass, and finally, we could see the sky above us, we could breathe again. WE, because as much as this was my experience, it is one that gave me and many others a sense of belonging. We may often have felt alone and lost, but we were all going through these difficult times, and when we talked about it, we felt closer and understood. We were still part of a community, something bigger, and we made valuable friends along the way, starting with ourselves.