Samantha Motion: How lockdown changed my life

Lockdown proved working from home could work. Photo / Getty Images

OPINION

My strongest memory of going into lockdown was standing on the deserted footpath outside the empty office and trying to jam my computer chair into my car.

The issue was, my wee Toyota Yaris was already hosting my husband's computer chair, so this became a Tetris-like exercise with two sets of wheels for an extra challenge.

But there was no way I was spending the next month perched on a hard wooden dining chair.

Poked in and around the Tetris-ed chairs was a strange assortment of goods to augment our 'home office' (two laptops).

Monitors, keyboards, mice (mouses?), diaries, and stacks of notebooks, pens and post-Its for me.

Precariously positioned in the remaining nooks were a bunch of pot plants rescued from mine and other's desks, not knowing when they would next see water.

Our last stop was at an ATM. I don't usually carry cash but there is something about an international crisis that stokes the urge to stuff the mattress full of it.

The weeks that followed in Level 4 and 3 are generally a happy memory.

It feels a bit boastful to say that when so many others were out putting their health on the line, not seeing their families, losing their jobs or stuck in crappy situations - but it's the truth of how it was for me.

I did my job from a phone and a laptop from the safety of my warm, dry home with good company and I didn't have to juggle caring for kids at the same time.

My overwhelming impression was that this arrangement worked for me. I felt productive, comfortable and - all things considered - reasonably connected.

I also spent less and slept better, so there was that too.

When it was all over, part of me dreaded going back to the old working normal - especially the bit where we would spend an hour-and-a-half a day driving to and from the office.

The feeling of dread was especially acute coming into that time of year where we'd often leave home in the dark and return in the dark.

A switch had flipped, and even in the excellent company of my colleagues in the office, I felt I had lost something.

Like a lot of people post-lockdown, we reconsidered our living situation - a trend no doubt helping to fuel the housing market fire.

It suddenly seemed a lot less tenable to live in a far-flung suburb, so we talked about moving away from the home and neighbourhood we loved. Luckily, we didn't.

One year on from the start of Level 4, and I have a part of my lockdown life back - by choice.

I split my working week between home and the office, and I love it.

Lockdown proved working from home could work, and it changed my life for the better.