Things are chaotic and up in the air and a lot of it is an anxiety driven nightmare, but I can’t pretend that I’m not enjoying some things about being endlessly stuck in my house with my family. Please don’t take this as a way to diminish the really awful things that are happening to families locally and globally, but we need some positive focus too.
Here is my top 10 things that I’m enjoying about effects of this pandemic:
1. More family time
With two working parents, spending time with our kids a number one priority when we are home, so it’s been a joy that we are able to have uninterrupted time together (even when it’s awful and I hate everything and they need to go away)
2. My hair can grow out
Not to mention how minimal I look all around, but my hair is growing out from a very short style and it looks awful and you will never see it.
3. My house is always clean
My house is always clean because my children are in a constant state of destroying it- and what else do I have to do?
4. Sex
Number four is sex because no one is too tired at the end of the day.
5. No child care bill
I could sing the praises of my kids’ child care all day, but at the end of the moth it is a huge chunk of money gone and right now I don’t have to pay it!
6. Keeping up with hobbies and prayer time
All the mental health lists boast that making hobbies a priority is step in the positive direction. So what are you doing with your free time? Practicing your ukulele? Lettering? Reading a dense saint biography? Are you keeping up with your daily meditation and P90x routine? Now’s the time.
7. Sleeping in
I mean, not really sleeping in (my kids are 1 and 3) but NOT RUSHING to get out the door. And on that note…
8. Time
Take the last 2 and include whatever else kind of time you suddenly now have for the things you want or need to do that never happens. Not rushing with a freezer waffle in your hand to get everyone to their morning destinations and not rushing to pick everyone up. Making sure everyone brushes their teeth at bedtime (no, really) and having time for family prayer. Spending the weekend willingly doing yard work because you had your mental allotment of kid time. Time to sit down and write for the collective you’re apart of!
9. Good eating
With no rush to get home or get the kids to bed, everything we eat is currently fantastic and from scratch. My current meal plans for this upcoming Holy Week include: pretzels, hot cross buns, lasagna, Italian Easter bread. And I have to be in a constant cooking storm because my children are scavenging little food monsters.
10. Better communication
Our own local Fr. Matt Lowry, weeks ago, predicted that this shelter in place would result in everyone actually talking to people they normally didn’t have conversation with. I can account for this myself. In the last three weeks I think I’ve actually called my mom twice. We FaceTime a different relative or friend everyday, people we normally text only or just see at holidays. And it’s not as weird as I used to feel, it’s like I’m a teenager again. Everyone is calling “just because” and everyone seems fine with it.
Maybe this was the reset we needed.
What positive things can you find about our current situation?
