If you, like me, have spent any time on social media since this insanity has started, you have likely come across a bunch of how to be productive in lockdown articles, stories, photos, charts.
And while I am certainly against the if you don’t come out of it having learned a new language and as fit as ever way of looking at things, I do think that staying on top of your life is better than succumbing to the lure of Netflix and double chocolate chip cookies every single day and night.
In our little family (myself, my husband Rich, our two children and our two dogs), we have figured out a way (after much trial and error) of making things work for us in self-isolation: and when I say work, I mean homework, actual work, housework and self-care.
Here is how we do it:
Don’t obsess about getting it right and getting it done
This was the first lesson we needed to learn. And I think it’s only natural that we all want life to keep going as it used to, even though nothing is as it used to be.
We can’t get as much done as before or be as cheerful as before, and any level of isolation will take its toll.
Instead of beating yourself up for not being supermom try to cut yourself some slack, and take things as they come, with a little bit more wiggle room than usual.
You are not a teacher, don’t expect to be as good as one
If you are also homeschooling your kids on top of everything else, take a deep breath.
I know just how much importance we place on our children’s’ education, and just how much we want them to succeed in life and academia. However, we can’t expect ourselves to become teachers overnight after all, we can’t expect to magically wake up with several years’ worth of education in our brains.
Do what you can, and focus on keeping thing as normal and fun for the kids as you can. We’ve started adding these math workbooks to our routine, we also do a lot of quizzes and games, and we don’t expect too much (or at least I hope we don’t).
The most important thing our kids will learn from this is hopefully how to stay healthy in body and mind, and if they do miss a couple of geography lessons, they can make up for that when things are a bit more normal.
Lists and schedules are your friend
I literally have five planners on my desk where I write everything down. One for work, one for household stuff, one for family errands, one for school and one for myself.
Making lists and writing out schedules may seem like a tedious task: after all, it takes up valuable time but trust me, planning will save you a lot of time in the end.
Use an app, pen and paper, a notice board, whatever works but do make sure everyone in the house and family knows what their chores are, who is working when, and how your collective time is set up now you are spending more time together than before.
Learn how to work from home
If you have never worked from home before, adapting to that alone will likely be a major challenge. Here is what little advice I can offer on the subject:
Set aside a space where you work I know how comfy it can be to work in bed or in front of the TV, but if you designate a space, you will be able to get into work mode more easily, and it will mean your family knows you are at work when you are there.
Set working hours this might be a bit more of a flexible schedule, but let your coworkers, boss, clients, or anyone you work with know when they can expect you at your desk, and give the same notice to the fam. Of course, things will shift around, but try to at least aim to stick to it.
Get ready before work you don’t have to do hair and makeup every day if you don’t want to, but at least change into a different set of comfies when going to work. This is again a great way to be more productive and to prevent work and home and family from merging.
Self-care is more important than ever
Whenever you are under a lot of stress, taking care of yourself become even more important than it usually is. Think of that famous saying about the oxygen mask in the plane: always put yours on first.
While self-care will mean different things to different people, there are a couple of general rules we should all abide by:
Make sure you are eating right as much as possible (this of course does not mean you can’t indulge every once in a while, within reason) + ensure you are moving. While this may be more difficult in self-isolation, at least try to do some at-home exercises if you can’t get outside for a walk.
I know this will be a challenge but remember that getting these two things right will help everything else run more smoothly.
Keep your hands and your mind busy as idleness leaves a lot of room for added stress and worry. Try to do something, read something or watch something you enjoy (or maybe even don’t enjoy). Keeping yourself occupied will limit your time to overthink and overfret.
Finally, let’s not forget how important mental health is, especially at these kinds of times. Whatever it is that helps you mental health improve and stay well make sure you add it to your schedule every single day. And don’t think of it as slacking off or taking a break it’s keeping yourself healthy, which is all we need to be doing right now.
I hope some of these tips have given you an idea how to organize your own time in self-isolation and do let me know if you are doing anything differently and how it’s working out!
I’m a 20-something stay-at-home mother and wife. I have an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter, two loving dogs, and a lazy cat. I wouldn’t change my life for anything! I love to read, listen to music, cook and blog!
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