ode to libraries (the book ones)
Most of the audience reading this post think of some random new programming tool dropped recently when the word library comes up. Let’s leave our déformation professionnelle in the door and think about the libraries. Book ones. This post is an ode to them.
I am not sure if libraries work the same way everywhere around the world but in my country they are completely free, you can sit for hours, borrow books, again, for free.
The idea of borrowing something from an institution without owing them anything in this time we’re living in amazes me. I mean who gives you free stuff (except free pain)? This fact itself is enough for me to think libraries are amazing. I consider myself a decent book reader and it’s been a long long time since I had to pay for a book.
But this isn’t the only think I like about my libraries.
So the story begins with me, a remote working software developer getting married to a remote working software developer.
My husband and I are a newly wed couple with all the fun and silliness but life (work) gets in the way naturally. Traditional couples see each other a few hours every day, and usually spend the weekends together to make up the lost time. We don’t have the lost time. We’re together, always. Working in the same room (our home office) resting in the same room etc. and god, we annoy each other. Love only goes so far, folks. Love is great for your daily life, for your home. But what if your home is also your work? And what if your work needs some limits on the PDA?
You can (ideally) leave your work stress and burden when you leave company building. However, when remote working, you’re not leaving work at all and even if unintentionally, that mood rubs off on your partner, who has the same tension from work.
I’ve spent all of my teen years and a couple of my twenties in student dormitories which I had to share my room with at least 4 other girls. That fact alone justifies that I love and need my personal space and time in my home. And my partner also needs that, even if he doesn’t say so, I know he needs. And we respect each other on this and try to leave the house for a couple hours every now and then. Again, any traditional couple may not need this kind of arrangement, one or both of them having to leave for work, but we’re not like the other couples.
It’s not always related to your partner / roommates / family. Even if you’re having enough personal space, enough distance from others, home office still can be life sucking.
I’ve spared the biggest and prettiest room of my house as the home office. I’m talking about wall-size windows, glittering sea in front of me, big sky and trees. There is a real view I can’t describe enough. (It’s a house that’s a few decades old, and we are just tenants so don’t think too much of me lol) And I’ve decorated the office pretty nice, spaced, refreshing. Even with that perks, being at home all day just consumes my soul. I can't focus after a couple of hours. Especially if I haven’t left the house all day, rolling out of bed straight to the desk, it becomes too draining. I need the concept of leaving home for work, and I need the feeling of “arriving home”. Getting cozy again after a long day, hiding from darkness of the outside world (work)
Being at home while working AND while resting, my brain just can’t switch off between work and rest, drawing a line between bad and good.
I’ve talked about my feelings, but no need to mention here, you’ve probably read all about health and psychological problems that remote work causes.
With all these said, it’s almost mandatory for me to adapt a hybrid work approach.
You may think, just go back to the office. No, no. This is not an option. First I don’t even live in the same city with my office building. Even if I did, it’s too late for me to adapt to office work. My work life started remote, even my internship was remote. I don't have office experience. I don’t know what am I going to do if I have to work in an office job in the future. Leaving your warm bed, rising before the sun in the morning (and I’m a morning person believe it or not), getting ready, commuting, traffic, thinking about what to eat in the office, commuting again, leaving you no time to live your life.. No. I don’t want to think about that possibility. It’s not for me.
Also having a home office is not bad at all. Somedays you just don’t want to leave the house, maybe you’re a bit sick, or just not feel like it. It’s good to have the option to stay in bed while working. In other words, stay in bed and get paid. I just need a context switch for a couple days in a week.
So what to do? Go to nearest coffee shop. You’re lucky if they don’t play tasteless trendy music. You’re lucky if a waiter doesn’t keep asking if you need anything, isn’t intrusive, and doesn’t subtly let you know when it’s time to leave by checking on you constantly . You’re lucky if no teenagers talking loudly about their-whatever-teens-talk-about-these-days. Oh, by the way, pay a lot of money to be here and to drink a nice cup of burnt coffe.
Working in the coffee shop might feel cool just for one day, just for the vibes. Not maintainable.
Then rent an office or subscribe to a co-working space? What? I get paid to work, not to pay for it.
And here comes the raison d’être of our ode, libraries.
Go to your local library. Set up your working tools. That’s it. No one will talk to you, if you’re in a relatively small one, chances are no one will be there. Just you, the nice vintage smell of the books surrounding all over, and a nice vibe.
You’re tired, want to take a break, you’ll walk around book shelves and you’ll see there are very odd books on very specific topics. Take it, or laugh at the title, free amusement. Share it on twitter, free likes. Find some hard-cover, old, brown page books. Smell them, feel good. Free joy.
Get back to working. Stay focused, finish your tasks without your bed luring you to itself. No distractions, no funny businesses.
I use a technique that maybe we can call laptop-driven-development: working until my laptop does not feel like it anymore. I don’t plug my laptop so my work has a natural deadline for the day. I need to stay focused and get things done, or I’m gonna have to get back home with leftover tasks.
Fall is on the way, maybe it’s raining outside. With big windows all around you, overthink your life while waiting for the rain to stop before heading back home..
This is my call to all the remote workers or students or any other people staying home too much: Go to your local library, enjoy it, support it. Cherish it.
Not just for working. Use it for thinking, for reconnecting, writing or creating. The library is a sanctuary where your mind slows down, even though the world outside keeps running. Maybe you’ve been postponing to think, to reflect, to spend time by yourself, like I did before I discovered my local library. You’ll find some kind of joy and productivity in there. We don’t have so many pure-good organizations in our world. We should appreciate them while we still have them.
I’ll admit that this post can be a little biased, because my local library isn’t exactly a popular spot. Most of the time, I’m the only one in a room, and there are only 3–4 people in the rest of the library. It’s just a 20-minute walk from my home, so I get to walk my daily steps in on the way there and back. And some of the rooms look like this:
Yes, I’m lucky on that. Yes, this is where I write this blog post.
Thanks for reading. If you have any feedback or would like to discuss further, I would be happy to hear from you.