Social Distancing: How To Survive and Thrive as a Mom
Juggling home and work in our regular lives is stressful enough, but the past few weeks are more challenging than ever. Social Distancing for many means that we are dealing with an unrealistic expectation to work from home while still taking care of the kids. We are required to spend all of our time in our home and stay away from any social activities.
COVID-19 Pandemic is probably one of the most challenging periods in our lives. There is no one that is unaffected by social distancing and this can present new problems for our families and our kids.
I want to believe that this time will help us to grow and become a better version of ourselves. It will teach us not to take things for granted and to appreciate our family life. When the time comes to return to our “normal” life, whenever it will be, I have to believe that we will thrive and do better in all aspects.
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Social Distancing Tips to Survive and Thrive for Moms
Today, I would like to offer you a few tips and tactics that have helped me navigate through these turbulent times. Like everything during this pandemic, your personal struggles may be different from others. Review my list and take away the tips and the tactics that apply to you and your family.
Think Positive – Stay Positive
I try to stay positive these days and focus on the benefits of this time. For me, the benefits are that I can spend more time with my kids and save about 2-3 hours each day in commuting time. This doesn’t mean that things are perfect during this pandemic. We do have other challenges like the struggle to keep up with our work schedules and the fact that we live in a condo without much space to run. As with everything in life, there are some pros and cons of everything that has happened. So here is my first tip: See the positive sides. Create a list and write down all the positivity around you.
My Accomplishment List
Keep a list of everything you do and everything that has happened at home that you are proud of. Every art piece that I do with my kid and every little experience that we share like baking, dancing, or even a picture that we finally hang on the wall will be written down in my accomplishments list.
Move Your Body
It is so easy to let the days pass at home with zero movements. But keeping your body in motion and exercising will help you significantly during this time. For your health and your mind, a little exercise can go a long way. Joining online fitness classes is a great idea for moms stuck at home, but even if you can’t manage to join classes, there are plenty of options for movement. Go outside for a walk (with or without a stroller), dance with the kids to your favourite music, go up and down the stairs, do some stretches, pilates, or yoga.
Because it is hard to find 1 whole hour for a workout when you have kids at home, try to do 15 minutes of movement throughout the day.
Take good care of yourself
Make sure that you are taking good care of your body during this time, so you can handle the stress better. Living through a pandemic means that there’s a constant level of stress that isn’t there normally.
Here are the main things I think are the most important to keep in mind:
- Drink enough water during the day
Have more water and green tea over coffee and alcohol. - Eat well
Give preference to fresh food with lots of greens over processed food. - Take Vitamins
Make sure you take daily multivitamins and enough vitamin D.
Eating fresh food and making sure you get your vitamins and minerals will help you feel better. We work so hard to ensure that our kids stay healthy and we need to make sure we are doing the same.
Get Fresh Air
Step outside each day to get some sun and fresh air. The fresh air really helps our body and mind. I know it can be challenging to go outside every day. To be honest, this is something I have really fallen behind on, no matter how many times I try. But I keep trying because I know it helps my mood and I’m sure you can agree with me.
Meditate
Daily meditation will help you reduce stress, control anxiety, and enhance self-awareness. There are so many benefits of mediation and I highly recommend you start if you’ve never tried it before. You can start with 5 minutes every day before getting into bed. For an easy start, you can download a meditation app like Insight Timer. It will give you many options for a short guided meditation (for free).
Be Kind To Yourself
You are not allowed to go hard on yourself during this time. Yes! It is simply not allowed. Give yourself leeway and understand that you cannot do everything right during this time. Don’t try to multitask. When you work, focus on your work (as much as possible). When you are with your kids, then be with your kids.
Your kids can watch television and play with their iPad when you need to work or just finish tasks around the house, it is all fine. Do not listen to other voices if you don’t find them helpful.. Instead, do what feels good to you and your family.
Keep Flexible Routines
Kids love routines and so do we. I recommend that you try and create some morning and evening routines that work for you and your family. Instead of working with schedules and timing, routines give us more flexibility. On days when I finish my work early or very late, I will just start my evening routine according to that.
Have Special Celebrations
Now that we are at home all day long and all of our social events have been cancelled, I try to create some small celebrations and parties we can do as a family. We had a five and a half birthday party and we do dance parties very often. I do make-up parties with my girls and we celebrated Halloween twice this month. Kids love parties, and so we are making the most of this time.
Stop Cleaning Around the Clock
I know how hard it can be to see the messy living room and the toys on the floor and the dirty table. I know because I love my place to be clean too. I’m the type of person who can’t sit down and relax if I see toys on the floor. However, we have to learn how to let it go. Cleaning around the clock won’t get us anywhere because it will get dirty soon after. My new plan is to tidy up once a day in the evening time and to clean the floors/baths once a week. Again, be kind to yourself. You are more important than a clean house.
Plan for the Short and Long Term
This is something that really helped me during the last few weeks and I want to share it with all of you. Instead of thinking about the current situation, I think and plan about the future. I am planning our summer and all the places we want to see. I plan next winter and where we want to go skiing. I know it will take weeks before we can do any of the things I have planned and even the entire summer is in question right now. Even so, planning and anticipating better days is helping my days to be better.
This is a great time to think about your long term goals, your career, and your business plan. It is okay to pivot your plans based on your experiences from the last few weeks. I hear from many moms that working from home or the lack of work has opened their minds to new ideas on the way they would like to live.
I hope that you find my tips helpful. As always, if you have any questions or you would like to add your tips, feel free to use the comment section below or visit our Facebook page.
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