It has been about six months since I was in India watching COVID unfold back home and made the decision to send everyone home from the office.
A lot has changed since then.
Wearing a mask in public now feels normal. Stores have signs reminding people to keep their distance. Restaurants have changed how they operate. Meetings that used to happen around a conference table now happen on video calls.
And everyone is still working from home.
When this started, I think most of us expected it to be temporary. Maybe a few weeks. Maybe a little longer.
Instead, working remotely has become the normal workday.
There are parts of it that work surprisingly well. People have adapted quickly, and most of the work we were doing in the office has continued without much interruption.
But there are also things that are harder to replace.
Walking over to someone’s desk to work through a problem. Having a conversation in the hallway. Getting a group together without scheduling a video call first. Those small interactions matter more than I probably realized before they disappeared.
Outside of work, the changes are even more noticeable. People keep their distance from each other. Hand sanitizer is everywhere. Masks are part of leaving the house. Large gatherings still feel like something from another time.
It is strange how quickly something that would have seemed completely abnormal six months ago has become routine.
I still do not know when things will go back to normal.
At this point, I am not even sure what “normal” is going to mean when they do.