April Recap – Weird Times

Y’all, we are in some weird times. I do not know if weird or scary is the right word but for the sake of my sanity, we are going with weird. Here in Michigan, we are ending our sixth week of quarantine/essential employee/home schoolteacher. It is strange and weird.

I have really been working on transitioning my mind from the “have to” to the “get to”. That’s hard but it’s been so worth it. I know that my situation is so much more fortunate than others and I don’t take any of that for granted, I feel incredibly blessed. But it is still hard. Life right now is hard. I accomplished a few things and learned a few things and didn’t do some others. Let’s talk about those.

What I Did

1. Started Working from Home. In order to workout the social distancing issue, most of my co-workers transitioned to full time work from home but there are still some things that I am needed for at the office so Mondays and Thursdays I work a full day there and the rest I am home. It has been kind of nice starting my week off with normalcy by getting up and having to be somewhere.
2. Painted the House. We have been working on (attempting) painting our house one room at a time on the weekend. We had a few weekends of burn out, but it has been nice to see the transformation of the walls. And, it is nice to have a different pace and project each weekend to keep the days from running together.
3. Started Aggressively Paying Debt. I have been following The Budget Mom for about 5 months and have slowly adapted her processes but I found it fitting that while in quarantine, even though I am blessed to have nothing change on my end, I completed one whole month of following the process to a T. If you would like to know more, go here and see what it is all about. As I become more comfortable, I will be able to explain more.

What I Didn’t Do

1. Stress About the Schoolwork. When the pandemic shut down school on March 13, we were nothing less than shook. There was mild stress about what was going to come but only to the degree of how it was all going to work. The following week, our district rolled out a temporary plan to keep the kids active in their studies while behind the scenes planning for what would come April 13. With the Governor’s order that schools had to have a plan launched on the 20^th, our district was ahead of the game and our teens have been three weeks into online school and thriving. I learned through this whole process that next year, they will be met with where they are. It is my job to keep them alive, fed, and counsel for issues. I cannot be a home school type parent and no one expects me to be. So, I let that stress go and it has been the best thing for all of us.
2. Hoard Groceries. The first attempt at us grocery shopping was an interesting one and since then, we have done super well at eating out of the cupboards and allowing ourselves to get the essentials. We did grab an extra pack of two of paper towel and toilet paper but nothing to the extreme. And I’ll tell you, in the six weeks, we’ve gone through 2 packs of toilet paper. Y’all, its not that serious. Don’t stress over the TP.
3. Binge Eat. I’ll be honest, I was concerned with myself in this whole thing about how my body would react to my mental shifts. And I am happy to report that it has been so far, so good. I have been giving grace to my body and allowing it to feel rather than suppress it with food that just makes matters worse. With adopting Rachel Hollis’ 5 to thrive and #next90daychallenge, I decided that I wasn’t going to eliminate any food because to be frank, it doesn’t serve me. It doesn’t encourage my mental health and where I am right now. And that’s OK.

What I Learned

1. I Can Only Control What I Can Only Control. This life., especially right now, has shown me that I am in control of ONLY the things that I can control. I don’t have to worry about anything else but my family and where we are right now. I can control how I show up as a partner, mom and employee and on most days, that is enough. It MUST be enough.
2. Fabric Wallpaper Is. The. Worst. We have a tiny bedroom that has now shifted to the transformation phase of an office for me. IT HAD WALLPAPER THAT WAS FABRIC. Go back and read that again. If you’re wondering who does that? I am right there with you. THEN, THHHEEENNNN when I attempted to take it down, the backing of the fabric – which is also upholstery- has pieces woven into the paint in the dry wall. WHAT A MESS.
3. Teens are Adaptable but Still Fragile. Just because your teens are rocking the home school life, check in on them. Ask them what their thoughts are on this situation and how they are handling. Without trying to fix it, just let them talk. They have been affected by this just as much as we, as parents have. Our teens are amazing at this, but they are restless. They miss their friends, girlfriend, boyfriend and the life that was easy and normal. They miss doing life. I can’t help but wonder how they are able to be such amazing roll models and yet get up every day and do what is asked of them without complaint.

Life is hard right now. I will continue to say it because it is true. We don’t have to sugar coat it or put encouraging words in front of or behind it. But life is also full of lessons. I have been documenting and really trying to see the beauty in my individual situation that looks so much more different than anyone else’s. I do not and will not take my life for granted. Next month is full of unknowns again. With a stay at home order that is lasting until the middle of next month, we just don’t know.