Usually I would write an article per month, but i decide to wait a bit because of all the news and fears over the Coronavirus. In times like this, a lot of us will opt to “work from home” to minimize possibilities of exposure to the virus, but staying at home for many becomes increasingly unbearable. Many of my friends had expressed boredom and the agitation of being stuck at home, mainly because “working from home” felt like “living in the office”. It is true that with a smartphone and a labtop computer, there is no clear line between where is home and where is work.

The longer one stays at home, the more easily sparks of discontent flare up within the family, where even the most minute of reasons can be a catalyst. What’s worse is that being kept in the same location with the ones you argued makes it feel like a cage match – no where to avoid but to face them again. Moreover, if you have a baby in the house, situation becomes evermore fragile because anything that makes the baby cry will no doubt blow up in your faces. One situation I am facing at home is that my kid is just over six months old and is showing signs of teething…which affects his feeding and he gets upset easily because his gums are uncomfortable, so he complains or cries a lot. Listening to that at close quarters is very taxing on my patience and there is no where you can go to avoid it. In addition to the long feeding times and other things, my wife and i had several  exchanges already.

Now you hear people say “communication is important to prevent these tense situations from happening in the first place” but no matter how much is communicated or shared, there is always a “bad taste” lingering simply because you will “remember” that you argued with them, and there are nowhere to get a breather – this was what happened to me in recent days. Thus the more convenient way is to find a distraction. I previously wrote about the need to have your own way to vent steam and this is actually good to divert your attention away from the heated subject and also to give time for things to cool down. I sometimes turn to gaming or reading to do this, and once some time had passed, I will have calmed down and in better spirits.

Just make sure that side activity you do is 1) not addictive; and 2) not something your wife nags you about, otherwise the drama will enact again~