📰 The Topic
This weekend I overheard my girls while they were playing “house”. All sounded fairly innocuous until: “Bitty Baby just sneezed on Isabella. She needs a mask.”
Next thing I know, we’re being asked to help manufacture paper masks for their dolls.
The cacophony of feelings I experienced looking at their faces when they asked - pride pierced sadness - are all too common right now. I feel blinding moments of anxiety where I feel the need to get out of my house and my skin, but then there will be sweet times of gratitude for this chance to pause our all too full lives.
There is a pile of to-dos that are neither hard nor pressing. But their gathering weight pushes me further into the sofa until I can’t bring myself to do anything but binge-watch Friday Night Lights or Gossip Girl (binge worthiness notwithstanding).
Sundays used to be about adventures and exploration and family dinners. Now they seem to be filled with getting battle-ready for the week ahead. Planning out the 43 meals our family will eat. Grocery shopping. Collecting the 684 school assignment emails and links and sorting out who needs to do what, when. Then turning to work schedules to Tetris coverage across the 120 hours that stretch ahead of us.
I’m exhausted but I feel ungrateful for saying it. I have “time” but how is it midnight already? I think we’re doing alright with the kids, but they’re making pandemic accessories and sad about missing their friends and their classrooms so what do I know?
All this to say - this week’s “best practices” is about all of our individual stories and struggles.
We’re all living disappointments and anxieties - big and small. So let’s find strength in those stories.
And let’s focus on the small things that are the big things.
🧰 The Tools
Focus on these small things that can help you feel in control right now:
🏃🏽♂️Make a daily movement/workout goal - even just 6 minutes will make you feel stronger.
🍽Plan your meals for the week on Sunday - I’ve always thought that “meal planning” was overkill but the sweet sweet joy of not having to rack my brain everyday for “what’s for dinner” or now, “what’s for lunch?” is infinitely worth the 10 minutes on the weekend.
🧼Handwash your dishes right after the meal - I love my dishwasher but it’s shocking how fast we’re going through plates and cups. Just the simple act of washing up in warm water and wiping down counters makes things feel more sane.
✅Check off everything. Make lists for the day - whether it’s the day’s activities or chores and take great pride in marking them off.
🌳Take a walk - Cliched, but nature is about as therapeutic as you can get right now. Take a walk around the block when you least feel like it. Better yet, grab the nearest family member and have them join for some amazing 1-1 time.
🧐 Worth Reading/Watching
This week we’re sharing only one thing, that brings a little bit of joy and escape.
Here We Are - a beautiful short film based on the Oliver Jeffers book. Makes you appreciate all the beautiful waiting for us, just in time for Earth Day.