My incredibly forgettable first post was published 20 years ago today. The rather unoriginal title “I’m Done” betrayed myself because I was actually just starting. I had only just set up my website a few months prior and I was filled with so much excitement that I was able to publish content online. Even more so, I was so proud of all the work I put into the backend site software that allowed me complete creativity and control.

It seems rather inadequate that out of the whole year, the appreciation showed to our mothers is often left to a single commercialized holiday. A brunch, flowers, maybe homemade breakfast and for some people only a phone call - and then that’s it. Check mark, obligation met. Someone gave you life and nurtured you at such a personal sacrifice and it’s just so easy to take that for granted and not take a moment to realize what that must have been like for them.

A year ago today when our director told us to grab our things and work from home, I told myself there’s no way this could possibly last a whole year! Silly me! It was a real struggle at times, but I guess I survived. I know I’ve shared more emotional responses in a previous post and many times on Twitter, however I thought it would be interesting (maybe fun?) to look back at some (positive?

Every single job I’ve had since graduating from college required some sort of lab setup or equipment that made remote work practically impossible. That changed 5 years ago when I accepted my current job in research. My director allowed (actually recommended) working from home at least 20% of the time. At that point in my life I had just left a demanding and high-stress environment and I felt that being trapped in the office was a source of my problems.

I've always told myself that I'm a "private person". For years, I've used that as an excuse for being evasive when I don't want to talk about certain things or just to avoid giving away details about my life. But the truth is I'm not even sure I know what being a private person really means. While it's true I don't like to expose too much about myself, there have been people with whom occasionally I have admitted to things (though never everything).