It has taken me a really long time to wrap my head around what has happened with Covid-19. Its been a little over 6 weeks and a new month of Shelter-In-Place orders are about to go into effect here in Illinois. I just have not been able to find the words to express what we have been going through. And by we I mean all of us, our collective global energy.
I have to admit at first I was in shock. Looking back on it now thats what I think the first few weeks were for me. Shock. I was going through the everyday motions for my kids and work but not really processing what was happening. Sure I was absorbing the fear, worry and stress of it all. And I was trying to keep up with the new, ever changing and vital expectation with work. The constant news updates were hard to ignore. But not really letting myself fully process and so I started to retreat from pretty much everything extra we had going on. I mean how could you not. But I really turned inward for some guiding clarity and also for some space. I distanced myself from a lot of social media and social media commitments I had on my plate. I just didn’t feel I could do a good job with being in a foggy headspace. And when you are creative, that heaviness clouds your soul which feeds your creative spirit. I think there was exactly 1 month between my Instagram posts. I stopped writing blog posts. I just couldn’t.
I needed to breath and take in space. It’s been good.
My husband I have both been lucky in that we are still working. Our jobs became more busy and there was more stress to juggle. So while so many of my family and friends were laid off or furloughed it was hard to explain that we were busier than ever. And of course we felt guilty about that. But now we have finally settled into these new circumstances. Our family routine has finally found it’s rhythm. We are balancing, work, school, therapy, play and life with a bit more ease these days. It’s not perfect but It’s working.
My day looks like this:
-Wake
-Dress (I still have to look presentable because of all the video calls we do now, lol)
-Work/ emails
-Breakfast/ reading
-Schoolwork and or therapy
-Work/ emails
-Lunch
-Kids Activity
-Work/ emails
-Outside time
-Work/ emails
-Dinner
-Work Time (my husband takes the kids for a couple of hours so I can catch up)
-Kids Bedtime/reading ( this is my favorite time with them)
-My time- unwind however I need to , or I might catch up on work.
-My bedtime (finally- Right now my bedtime fluctuates depending on how the days goes)
I found I have to allow for a lot of flexibly in the day. My kids are little and some days are just not going to go as planned. I have given myself the grace to know that it’s ok if I have to stay up late, or go to bed early cause I’m just exhausted. I’m trying to give myself the grace that it needs.
Now that our daily rhythm has started to feel normal again, I’ve been working on trying to get back into planing more explorations with my kids and figuring out how to fit that in to our routine. Time management has been important. Its different now. Now I get more work done after dinner and then of course when the kids go to sleep.
Our plan is to take what we learn from every day, keep moving forward and find a way to circle back to some of the goals we set for ourselves this year and see if we can get ourselves back on track a little bit. We are trying to get back into the swing of spending more time outdoors. I’ve been planning in my hours to try to make it all balance.
I’d love to hear from you and how your managing through this time. What have been your struggles and how are you powering through? We can all learn from each other and take the best of what we all have to offer.