These are my Top Ten Tips for surviving isolation (or lockdown).
I know this is topic is quite over-done at the moment, but sometimes you can still find gems, and something will just click when you read it, and may have the power to change your perspective, and in turn change your life. I am not saying this article has that capability, but there might be something in there that resonates with you.
"Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny." C.S. Lewis
1) Create A New Routine:
Children thrive on routine, and to be honest – so do I. As moms, we tend to flounder, panic, and feel very overwhelmed without a routine! What habits and routines do for us is anchor us. When chaos ensues, and there are children having melt-downs, mess throughout the house and dishes all over the kitchen, we can remind ourselves that tomorrow we'll go back to the basics and start again. It makes me feel more in control, and we all need a bit of control in our lives when everything outside is so out of our control.
2) Meal Plan:
It is essential to be thinking ahead and ensure you have enough food to last you a week, on hand, most of the time. Be prepared with quick and easy meals, have tins of Baked Beans and other quick but fairly nutritious, pre-prepared meals in the cupboard, because if you also get sick; the kids and your partner need to be able to fend for themselves (and we all know what that means if we've not thought ahead). Another excellent thing to have on hand is some soup; my kids' favourite is homemade Chicken Noodle Soup, but even buy a few of the 'Heat and Eat' containers from the supermarket specifically for a time like this. More often than not, the sickies will not want to eat much anyway, so soup and toast is a great standby meal.
3) Get Outside As Much As Possible:
So while we can't go about our daily life, we can still get outside and take in as much fresh air and Vitamin D as possible this time of year. Seasons are changing, but the weather is relatively stable, and there is just something about standing on your back lawn and feeling the warm grass between your toes. If you are the one running around looking after the family, sometimes getting outside is just as essential for your mental health as chicken soup is for the body. Take a deep breath of fresh air, let the warm sun wash over you, and sit quietly for as long as you can (or at least until the little people come looking for you). If you can't get outside due to weather, make sure you still move your body - put some music on when you're cleaning, or have a dance party. Make it fun, and make sure you move; it lifts your mood and changes the atmosphere in the house.
4) Make Sure Everyone Is Doing Their Bit:
One of the routines I suggest you set is a housework schedule. When all of you are at home – things like cleaning the bathroom and toilet, vacuuming and doing a load of washing often become daily chores just for survival, so everyone must pull their weight. Giving the house a quick clean in the morning works best for us; you might find the evening suits you better – make it work for you and your family, but whatever you do, make sure you spread the load.
5) Enlist As Much Online Support As Possible:
When I say enlist support online – I don't mean people power; I mean 'App Power' because the whole world is essentially in the same situation as we are. You will find websites all over the place offering their services for free these days, or at least at a significantly discounted cost to normal. The kid's schools have sent home newsletters with many websites available offering online teaching resources for free, make the most of these and use them; it will also free up some space for you.
6) Stay Connected:
It is of utmost importance to stay connected with 'your tribe', whether this is your family, your friends, your work colleagues – whoever your biggest cheerleaders are. Almost everyone has a mobile phone and access to the internet, so ring, text, face call, arrange online 'meetings' and keep in touch. They're either in the same boat as you or have been recently and understand the need for connection. Ring someone and vent; it is okay to need this yourself and offer to be the listening ear for others. We all need someone to lean on at some point!
7) Look After Yourself:
As moms, we are always putting our kids (and often our spouse) first – but we need to make sure we also make time for ourselves. So when you create your new routine – make sure to put the time in there where you can go and pursue something you want to do, whether that means hiding in your room to read, listening to a podcast, having a long bubble bath; whatever works for you! Schedule it in, make sure you take the time to do it, make sure your partner also schedules some down time for them, and then honour these like they are important meetings.
8) Be Creative And Try New Things:
This is the perfect opportunity to do something you have always wanted to do but never had the time to do; you want to learn to draw – find a YouTube Tutorial and start teaching yourself! So many things at our fingertips and so much free content online; you could pretty much teach yourself anything, so make the most of the time you have, and dig in deeper.
Try new things:
- Learn some new dance moves with the kids
- Take a creative writing course
- Teach yourself to cook or bake, and include the kids
- Learn a new language together
- Read some books you've been meaning to
9) Stay In Tune With The Kids:
Right now, they are as anxious and over-it as we are – however, as adults, we can process it much better. Every child is different; it is essential to know how your child(ren) process things and meet them where they are.
One thing I tried with my kids was getting them to write up a daily journal when the pandemic first started, it didn't last long, but my daughter discovered it a couple of months ago and had a good giggle as she reread it, stating she wished she'd continued writing.
Take the time to talk, cuddle, sing, watch movies - whatever it takes to reassure your children that everything will be okay. When omicron took hold in our small town, my son was quite anxious, and we chose to pull the kids out of school for a couple of weeks. But as time went on, they calmed down as more and more friends were getting sick but coming out of it okay. So eventually, he relaxed enough and asked to go back to school, and we let him. The propaganda of fear has affected the kids as much as us, and they feel it deeply; allowing the kids to pull back for a week or two (I was allowed to work from home) meant they could watch and process until they felt confidant enough to head back into their new normal.
10) Remember – You Can Control Your Responses:
I was listening to a podcast this morning, and this is precisely what she was talking about (it had nothing to do with our current realities but is so relevant right now). We are in complete control of our reactions and responses to everything going on around us – we may not have control over much else, but we do have control over ourselves. We can choose our reactions, even if everything else feels out of control. The pandemic and the war, prices of food and gas rising significantly, and long delays in many products (building in particular, which is having a massive impact on our lives), it is hard to remember we still have choices in the middle of it all.
Our kids also follow our examples – if we're going around grumping, they will also find ways to be negative. However, we have the opportunity to teach them how to see the positive in every situation and use it to better themselves.
And whatever else you take from this, remember to be kind!
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