I met my colleagues face to face for the first time in months. We had a retrospective meeting and then lunch at Urban Deli’s rooftop restaurant. And since I was going to the office for this anyway, I worked there before and after the meeting as well.

Meeting the team was lovely, but working in the office was much less so. There were interruptions all the time – and while it’s nice that people stop by my desk to say hi and chit-chat, it really kills my productivity. Add the time spent on commuting, and by the end of the day I felt like I barely got anything meaningful done (and I do count the lunch as meaningful and time well spent) even though I was away for eight hours.

And for the first time in months I felt stressed. I had to look at the clock to start heading home at a reasonable time, and I felt the pressure to hurry home to the kids. Not pleasant at all.

Back in March, it took time for me to get used to working from home. But now that I’ve settled in, it really works very well for me, and I haven’t felt this relaxed and productive at work since… forever.