Hello ladies and gentlemen! How is everyone holding up? We are doing okay, my family lives in the Bay Area in one of the counties that went into shelter in place before the rest of CA did, so after a few days we were going a little insane.
At first, the panic hit because of all the projects that were shut down on Monday, and a shelter in place was something completely new to us. The unknown is scary, so I automatically panicked but I had to front a straight calm face for my humans. I can tell you by day 3, I got into the routine of playing “teacher” and keeping the kids occupied. By day 5, I needed another adult in my life, my husband had been staying busy in his office, just to distract himself and keep some sense of “normal” in all of this.
So when he came back from the office, I said ” I need a drink and a husband and wife movie evening”, he got right to work, whipped a dinner for him and I while I cooked a meal for the kids, I settled the kids upstairs in their room, while he served us dinner and drink, we had downstairs to ourselves. I swear, it was much needed and much appreciated. I think because of the weather being gloomy the first couple of days, it wasn’t hard to stay inside but when the weather was gorgeous outside and limited options, well that hit a little different. We actually took walks in the trails by our house twice.
On day 6, it was another story, we all woke up just bored and grumpy with each other. We went to the park, played basketball but we were just snapping at each other. Once we got home, we all agreed to do our own thing, my husband stayed downstairs watched YouTube, I read a book in our room and each kid did their own thing. No one bothered each other and the house was so calm, I actually fell asleep. When I woke up from an hour nap, my daughter had also taken a nap and the boys were cooking dinner. I think we just needed some alone time.
We will get through this together, give yourself time to gather your thoughts. If you have kids, have a talk with them about you needed alone time, I tell my kids my office space is the teachers lounged during 8-5 so please respect that, they love playing school that they actually respect it. They actually have school work and are in constant communication with their teachers, that I’m just there to set them up, go over the school work for the day and ask if they have any questions or help with anything. I check up on them constantly while I do my own thing, read a book, listen to a podcast or create content. I try to keep myself occupied with stuff that isn’t housework. I think that is what is keeping me mentally strong, that in some sense I’m keeping a schedule as if I went into the office, after 3 pm it’s dedicated to housework and cooking, obviously there’s more free time but having a routine keeps me grounded.
Let’s help and encourage the people around us, be a light to others and when you need some light, reach out and ask for it. For most of us, this is new to us, its uncertain times, but let’s give gratitude for the other things that are good in our lives.
Much love to all of you.