I miss the coffee shops

Something that has changed, at least for us, is the number of coffee shops that are available where you can sit and do a bit of work during the day. Prior to the pandemic, there were so many different coffee shops where you could either grab your computer or a notebook or tablet, and you could sit and get some work done. Being able to sit and work on things was so nice, and it is something that I have missed because so many of the locations that we went to have now closed, which is very disappointing.

What we had the habit of doing is taking our computers a couple of times a month and going to a coffee shop and buying some coffee (normally more than one cup each) and sitting and working on the various things that needed our attention. Being at a coffee shop also meant that we were sitting together and were able to discuss things, which also was nice. When you work in a home office, there are quite often hours that you don’t see the other person as we are both working on our separate things.

Something that has helped me get over the lack of coffee shops is figuring out the different spots at home where I can get some writing done. I sometimes will either grab my tablet or my journal book and go into a different spot at home and try and do the writing there. It does help some, and something else we do is we grab our laptops and sit together for a few hours and work on the things that we want to discuss. We also just sit in the same area and work on our own tasks, but at least we are close together when we need to discuss something.

Sure, being able to just work at home is great because the cost of the coffee is a lot cheaper, but it also means that you don’t have the different environment and for someone that does a lot of writing, the change in scenery can make a big different to how much writing I can get done. Being able to find a different location to sit and write every now and again does help a lot. I do know that when we take our car in for an oil change, I can be found sitting and writing at one of the tables there.

Yes, the number of coffee shops have decreased but making sure that you can find the different places to sit and get work done is important. Of course, if you are going to be using a food court as a location to get some work done, make sure that you are also considerate when it gets busy and maybe that is the time to take that break and let someone else use the table.