No doubt I am super loving the work from home setup. I love the thought of waking up, stretching, getting off the bed, making my morning coffee and then logging in. The convenience and the extra hours to my sleeping hours really are awesome.
However, as much as that seems convenient and blissful, there are things about going in the office that makes working from home a bit of a bore in the long run. Do not bring home your work so they say. Over time we see that some ideals are bound to be broken because they do not usually fit the situation.
I have been thinking lately about the things I miss in the office. I sure do miss my friends there.
But we do get to chat during work hours and even in messenger anyway so that is pretty much covered. I semi miss the floor where we eat our snacks and view the sunset. But snack wise, I have some at home.
I think one of the things I miss in the office that I cannot have a substitute for at home is the rec room or the Recreation Room.
The beauty of sharing the building with BPO employees is that we get to share the use of their rec room or their "recreation" room. But I used to not have that privilege because I used to report to another site. And that site did not have it. Well, well, well, with a little wand stroke of favorable forces I woke up one day reporting to the site with a rec room.
Newbie and all, I only know one person then - the friend boss who lives near my place then so we go to the office together on a long commute against the flow of the normal regular morning rush. As usual I picked the cube with less seat mates. But I really admire those people who dare to break the social barrier or wall I build - some people pass through it like there is no wall at all, some people climb up (don't ask me how I am still trying to figure that one out, too) and some people just really ignore the imaginary yellow tape of caution and they start talking. And they don't seem to mind that I do not respond much they just talk. Lols. Like Shrek's Donkey. I used to have a really thick and strong wall. Maybe I've gone soft.. or old.. or both.
Since they are already inside my personal space, might as well start interacting, right? That would be easier than to start explaining the why. Haha. Kidding.. partly. Yes that was partly kidding. Now what was I saying? Yes. The Rec room.
Sponsors' block AHOOOY... go check check check 'em!Endorphins. Serotonin. Dopamine, Oxytocin
After having lunch, they dragged me to the then rec room. We entered the room already feeling the fun tension brewing and the origin was from the foosball table. You can hear the turn of the handles, the small ball hitting the sides of the table and the small ball rolling to the goal hole. When that happens, it was a massive roar coming from the crowd surrounding the event.
This is their after lunch event. I realized later on when I learned the game it was a perfect outlet for daily stresses. Also a perfect game to wait out the traffic after office hours.
We wrecked that table. Yep we wrecked the rec room table. It never got replaced. Over time the rec room got renovated and was transferred to a more spacious area. More space means more items to add in.
They retained the dart. I also learned to play darts in that place.
They now have the table tennis, the billiard table, the PS station, the videoke room, the massage chairs. Just a note, the use of these are logged so the leads and the managers know if certain resources were "over using", abusing or cheating in their shifts.
But even then, having access to these really helped in balancing our stresses. I have seen the difference of aura between resources from my previous reporting site and the current (pre pandemic and wfh setup). Even if you just go there and not play, it resets the stress bar.
They help somehow in pumping the four happy hormones.
At one point I was in need of a stress bar reset. Hence, I took a two-day break. Haha. The downside of that is that I'd need to catch up with that two-day cut off my delivery deadline. Hay the endless cycle! haha. The break helped though. The plan to break my usual work-day cycle paid off. Rearranging stuff in my room did help in pumping up happy chemicals.
I came to a resolve, I should start getting out of the room and expanding my walking territory from the coffee maker to outside the house (but within the gate).
I also need to get comfortable in going back to playing badminton. Lols as if that is allowed and possible. This part is a hard wish. But once I get comfortable with the idea, I will jump in on the invitation of my badminton friends.
What is your rec room substitute? What do you do that brings out the happy hormones so you can sanely work on your tasks?
Good day fellas! Happy Monday!
© Pichi28
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I eat or smoke a cigarette before when I want to realease my happy hormones at work. There is no rec room substitute because it was either the office, kitchen or the dining area that we have in a restaurant set up. But years ago, after I went home from work, I would exercise to steam off those not so good things that happened to me that day and it was really effective. I think I have little to zero endorphins, serotonins ever since I became a bum 😅