How are you doing? It's funny how many of us answer that these days. In the context of architectural practice, our response might focus on our work status, or our busyness, or even our un-busyness. But, architects and designers have a lot of other things unfolding in their lives, too. Some are rethinking their careers, others are taking on new hobbies, and there are those who are balancing work with home-schooling kids.

Archinect user Black_Orchid recently created a forum thread aimed at providing a level of catharsis for those here on the site: Wellbeing Check-in? The discussion is at over 200 comments so far, and they keep coming in. It's become a place for people to open up and share their struggles, obstacles, excitements, and reflections around this year. Black_Orchid kicked off the discussion:

"WFH since beginning of the year, was pretty stressful at first with a lot of 70 hour weeks. Cancelled the gym membership, got more into being outdoors and spending time cooking with my better half / spending more time with pets / video chatting with family. Spending a lot of time listening to self help podcasts and how to help better myself for both myself and those around me."

Others expressed heavy workloads accompanied by micromanaging leadership in the office. Add this on top of the difficulty to stay focused for long periods of time and the result can become overwhelming. JonathanLivingston said:

"I try to keep things at work bottled up tight. No one wants to see emotion in the workplace. I am a grown man but I have gone into the bathroom to cry multiple times over the past 6 months. Architecture seems trivial at the moment...

"My performance is lack luster to say the least and I feel horribly guilty about it. My employer insists on work from the office and every hour gets questioned. I don't know that I would employee [sic] me at the moment. I don't feel like I can focus on anything...

"I try to workout, read few pages of a book and journal a single page each day after everyone is asleep. Establishing that routine, and getting into therapy for the first time in my life has been my positive forward improvement. It's what I have. But I still feel so alone..."

Almosthip echoed the uneasiness from firm leadership:

"My boss is super stressed about everything, so that is trickling down to everyone else…"

However, some have revisited old hobbies, taking the time at home to refocus and work on oneself. Non Sequitur has returned to painting:

"...since we're all sharing, below are a few examples. I typically only do palette knife paintings, either landscapes or still life but I used to do abstract geometric/urban scenes. All acrylic. 

"The last one, I kid you not, has been sitting unfinished on my easel for almost 5 years. Back when I actively painted, I always had 3 to 5 canvases and used my left-over paints to make up urban scenes or still life pieces. I need to make some sense of the lower half of that last pic."

Above all, it seems that across the board, stress and anxiety have risen for most people. For some, the uneasiness comes from work, and for others it is the uncertainty of the future, politics, family, and more. 

I know for myself, balancing family life, two jobs, and the endless time in front of a screen has been challenging. Migraines have creeped in from the constant focus on the computer, and since everything is virtual, I feel that everyone thinks that I want to be on Zoom endlessly. Additionally, I often feel, as one of our Archinectors shared, that people do not consider how I might be doing personally. When it comes to professional interactions, it's often a focus on performance, performance, performance. I have to catch myself, too, and I am doing my best to extend grace to all of the people I am collaborating with in this season.

How are you doing? Let us know in the comments or jump into the Wellbeing forum discussion and share your experience with the community.

For more on mental health in architecture, we're including an episode from our podcast archive and an inspiring interview with an architect/author...

Archinect Sessions Episode 121: Mental Health in Architecture

How Overwork and Anxiety Led Architect Ben Channon to Focus on Designing for Happiness