Ways to Find Peace in this Time

With all this staying at home I’ve had some good days and some not so good but today I’m writing about some things that help me get through those tougher days.

So during this time of social distancing I’ve had great days and days where I want to rip my hair out and scream! And to keep myself from going bald or hoarse I’ve been doing some things to keep me sane! 🙂

Every day I get up earlier than Caroline just so I can get a little extra quiet time alone. I set a new goal for myself to read the bible within 2 years, this bible is set up for one year but I’m realistic with myself and I know I’ll need 2!

John and I have also been keeping up with our routine of praying together every morning. We’ve done this since we were married and were going 10 years strong praying the Liturgy of the Hours.

I usually work out but lately I’ve been making sure that I get my workouts in and I actually have been working out a little longer than normal.

I’ve been running on the treadmill for 30 mins using the C25K app. This helps me so much. I’m not an avid runner so this helped me to slowly transition into running more.

After running, I’ve been doing X-TEND Barre workouts through the OpenFit App. And I LOVE IT!!! It’s so hard but so good!

Before all this social distancing started, we usually tried our best to clean up after everything we did. I really only cared if the sink was empty and the beds were made. But now that we’re home I have really wanted our home clean 99% of the time. So I told John the things I wanted cleaned up by the time we go upstairs to put Caroline in bed and wow it’s been magical.

Every night before Caroline’s bath we clean up the kitchen, give the downstairs a good vacuum, and make sure everything is put away.

I can’t even tell you how happy this makes me! This is definitely something we will continue after this is all over.

I am a girl of schedules, I love to have a routine and I love to know what’s coming next. And something that’s helped keep me happy throughout the time is writing a schedule out every morning.

I don’t keep it rigorous or crazy but I like to have a little outline of what we’re doing. Luckily I’m a stay-at-home mom so Caroline and I already had a rhythm to our days.

I’ve been telling myself, especially on the hard days that it’s ok to let Caroline watch just a little more TV if I need a break. That mom guilt really sets in on me and I feel like I need to be constantly paying attention to her but in the end, I know we both need some time apart throughout the day and that’s good.

We’ve been baking a lot more and I LOVE it! I love being able to have a warm homemade treat once a day, good thing I’m working out extra! But seriously, baking gives Caroline and me something fun to do together using her new stool and whatever we’ve baked is usually just delicious.

Getting outside even for just a minute has been one of the best things for us as a family! We’ve been taking walks every day multiple times a day and going on bike rides. Every time I walk back into the house from being outside I feel refreshed!

Remembering that this is not forever and that it is actually an extremely short time over a whole life, has helped me be thankful for the moments we’ve been given to slow down.