Does anyone here share their home workspace with another person?
I do.
My husband and I share the smaller bedroom of our condo, which we made into an office when we first moved in eleven years ago. Before COVID, my husband commuted to work every day and I had the “office” to myself to work in. For most of this time, I worked on the desktop which he and I shared (which is now six years old and getting slow, but that’s another post for another time).
Then came the virus.
Now, three days per week, my husband works from home. He sets up his work laptop on the desk where our desktop computer is (moving the ergonomic keyboard, of course) and works. A year ago, I bought my own laptop to dedicate to my editing business and a desk to put it on (my sweet hubby put the latter together). And so my workspace is in a corner of our “office” and my husband and I work in the same room.
This requires some concentration. R. U. T. is key (Resist the Urge to Talk, that is). My husband and I don’t often speak to each other during the workday, even though we are in the same room. He is absorbed in his work and I in mine. This is how it should be. If you can’t work in the same room with a loved one without socializing, you shouldn’t be working in the same room.
There is, however, an important exception to the R. U. T. principle. This is when one of us craves a cup of Joe and says to the other, “Would you like some coffee?” At this point, the person who asked takes a break and goes to the coffeemaker to make four cups of the magic elixir–two for each person–and serves them in two mugs. This person is well appreciated throughout the day.
If you share a workspace with someone else, what is it like for you?