To say the coronavirus pandemic has changed my life is an understatement. It’s changed EVERYONE’S lives. For most of us, our busy, appointment-filled, scheduled-to-the-minute, running-all-over-town lives are now compressed into the place we call home. And most of us are suddenly homeschooling digital learning.🙄
How has the Coronavirus Pandemic changed life?
How hasn’t life changed? New freelance writing opportunities? Nope. Upcoming travels? Nada. All the weekend birthday parties? Cancelled…including those in my own house. AAU practices? Track meets? Volunteer opportunities at the kids’ school? All kaput. Life. Is. Different. And it has taught me some important lessons I wanted to share with you.
What I’ve Learned…So Far
1. I need my house to be clean.
I never realized how much it calmed me to have a clean house. Now, I don’t mean dust the baseboards type of clean…let’s not get crazy. But, I do like it to be picked up, no shoes piled on the floor, crumbs swept swept up from lunch type of clean. But I can’t clean when NO ONE LEAVES THE HOUSE. Also, I can’t exactly run down to the store to get my favorite cleaning products. Sigh. But I have learned how to be resourceful. My friends at 2ULaundry liked my cleaning tip and included it in a round up they created. There’s some really good ideas! Check out their printable Spring cleaning checklist too.
By the way, if you want to take laundry off your to-do list (*raises hand) 2ULaundry is a new spin on getting your dry cleaning and everyday laundry done for you. They pick up and deliver so you don’t have to go anywhere too!
2. It’s hard AF to not touch my face.
OMG. Who knew? I rub my eyes when I’m tired. I brush away crumbs after eating. My palm meets my forehead when I’m exasperated. Geez. Trying not to do something tends to show you how much you actually do it.
3. My kids don’t didn’t have tons of downtime.
Before now, these were some busy kids. With 4 kids we are always going somewhere, doing something. My kids’ favorite thing to say is ‘what are we doing next?’ I think they like “going” as much as I do. But that hasn’t given them much of a chance for unstructured play. At ages 12 to 7 they are still young enough to play the made up games kids think up. But, they need time to be able to make them up. They have it now. They have lots and lots of time now.
4. We are the lucky ones.
This is the first time I’ve ever had to choose something at the grocery store because that’s all there was to buy. I could be picky about meat. If I didn’t want to stock up, I could pass items up because I could always go back later in the week. I have never been told to ration paper towels. This time is a disruption to our daily lives and it gives me a small sense of how it must be in countries where shortages and rationing is the norm.
5. Homeschool is not my jam.
I’ve always been impressed with parents who can homeschool their kids. They always seemed like a special species of parents to me…like the unicorns of parenthood. I have admired them from afar, knowing that I wasn’t about that life. Well now that that homeschool life has come to me. I feel so overwhelmed trying to get everything done during the day. And by 2p or 3p I’m exhausted. Staying on top of all 4 kids and trying to keep them on task and meeting deadlines is crazy hard. I’m thankful for understanding teachers and a school who went to a 4 day school week.
6. I like to be busy. Like really, really like it.
My life is usually like running downhill. There’s so much going on and I just have to try to keep up with it all. And the truth is I like it like that. I tend to thrive on the hustle and bustle. As a result of this coronavirus pandemic, I am learning that have to figure out how to slow myself down. I have to learn how to be ok with being still.
What have you learned about yourself the last few weeks? Are you stronger than you realized? Did you find it way harder than you thought? Are you overwhelmed? Do you enjoy homeschooling? Tell me more!
Connect with me. Please. Join my facebook group and let’s connect.
[…] some chores out of their way helps make tweens and teens so much less surly! Check out my cleaning ideas for this. You can also go to 2ULaundry for some wash-dry-fold […]