Gay Black author Michael Arceneaux has some very real advice on working from home during coronavirus
Bestselling author Michael Arceneaux. (Twitter/Michael Arceneaux)
The bestselling author Michael Arceneaux has some very real advice for people working from home during the coronavirus pandemic.
The global death toll from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has passed 15,000.
With more than 350,000 confirmed cases of the disease worldwide – and many more people infected but untested – entire countries have gone into lockdown and the prevailing advice from health chiefs is: stay at home to prevent spreading coronavirus.
This means an unprecedented number of people are now working from home, and many of us – celebrities included – are experiencing “quarantine meltdown”.
Arceneaux, like many who work from home usually, shared some very real advice for those whose workspace is now more akin to their bedrooms.
“As someone who has worked from home for the most part his entire career largely due to a financial crisis made of greed and gross government incompetence, my advice to y’all is to not allow the pressure to perform ruin the comfort of home,” Michael Arceneaux said, in a viral tweet that has been liked more than 3,000 times.
“It can happen faster than you think,” he added.
“If you don’t have it in you to work, allow yourself to break. These people will work you to death, and as we are seeing once again, then savagely let you go — potentially with little or nothing.
“Work at whatever level keeps you peaceful. I’ll stop sounding like Mother Love now.”
I still miss Mother Love’s talk show, by the way.
— Michael Arceneaux (@youngsinick) March 22, 2020
As they are wont to do, people on the internet chipped in with advice of their own on working from home during the pandemic after Michael Arceneaux shared his.
“Been doing it for over 15 years. This is so true. Contain your work to one space. I am fortunate to have a dedicated office but I know not everyone does. Set hours. Plan breaks or lunch or showers if need be. Ritualize it by start and stop times or tasks. Establish boundaries,” one person replied.
Another said: “Yup. I take a shower every day and change into non-pajamas. I then actually say out loud, “I’m going to work now.” Silly, but it helps me mentally shift to work mode. I live in a tiny apt so my kitchen table is now my office.”
I needed to see this! I started working from home Friday and it has felt like such a nightmare! Systems not working right, and I feel like we were sort of thrown to the wolves. I am a top performer at my job and still feel pressure to perform like I am in the office. pic.twitter.com/zjXafZ1pL2— Shauna S (@ssimmons1187) March 22, 2020
Arceneaux’s New York Times bestselling book of essays I Can’t Date Jesus: Love, Sex, Family, Race, and Other Reasons I’ve Put My Faith in Beyoncé detailed his life growing up as a Black, gay, Catholic man in Houston, Texas.
His second book, I Don’t Want To Die Poor, will be published April 7.
