T has been working from home for several years and that gave me a leg up on identifying strategies that will work for me as I begin teaching from home next week.
Last week, I planned to take a break from schoolwork and so I spent time in pajamas on the sofa. Pretty quickly, I learned that all-day- pajamas and Twitter was a recipe for personal disaster. By the time T emerged from her office for lunch, I was a nervous wreck. It wasn’t the alone-time that got me; it was the pace of alarming news. A need to be cheerful for JT meant that T got all my worries, in one giant bucket-load.
Not cool. Also, not useful. And honestly no surprise….I am a creature of habits. If I have a middle school mantra, it’s this: The only thing you can control is yourself. So I took a page from that playbook and got my crap together.
Twitter and pandemic news is now regulated.
NPR and twice-a-day NYT are fine. TV news and the Cheetoh-in-chief daily media shitstorm are out.
Leisurely mornings are fine (for now). But I need to shower and put on clothes for the day, even if I never leave the house. And I need a plan and a variety of activities. Reading, writing, time in the garden, checking in on my parents via phone, stretches, school work, organizing things in the study for my school work, watching TV, house chores, getting supper on the table…..there is time for all of it. This kind of variety adds to my day and eases my anxiety.
And so I am moving forward in this new landscape with routines and a plan to help shape my days. I am controlling what I can control, taking care of my people and my self, and wishing every day to summon the grace necessary to get through this.
One day at a time, y’all.
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