This week it hit me that I need to come to terms with being home for the long haul. I’ve gone through so many phases since we started staying home on March 13. The first few weeks were given by adrenaline. Then I hit the depressive wall around week 4 after the adrenaline wore off and realities of our global situation hit me. It was around this time that Maryland extended stay at home orders indefinitely, which was a shock to the system. Weeks 5-6 were rough. My kids had a tougher time, work was extremely busy, and the routine we had as a family just wasn’t working. This week I’ve taken some time to really think about our reality, what’s working/not working, and the things we need to adjust. I’m not fully there yet, but I realized that I need to give myself permission to accept that we’re going to be home for a long time. That life before March 12 isn’t around the corner. It’s going to take a really long time to define our new normal. For now, I am trying to give myself permission to accept that this is the new normal. That we will be home, we will be limited, and we will need to balance work with prioritizing our kids and wellness.
So that brings me to May. April was good in a number of ways and I don’t want to lose sight of that. I am grateful for the slightly warmer weather, a few good thunderstorms, going for run/walks with my sister, and having lots of afternoons on the lake with my kids. Those were definitely some of the highs. I also started focusing on weight loss and since April 18 have lost 3 pounds. I’m still in that “pre-finding my groove” stage of weight loss but I’m feeling good about my steps/progress so far. I do want to use the first of May as a personal competition for the next 31 days and focus on some specific goals to further boost weight loss. I’d really like to get to 10 pounds lost by June. It’d be REALLY nice to hit 20 pounds lost by the first day of summer (June 20). Saying all that however, I know I need to focus on one day at at time.
May Goals/Things I’d Like to Do
Family
-Spend time outside with my kids each day
-Plan out a fun Cinco de Mayo
-Start to create a summer activity chart/jar for the summer months at home with the kids
Stay-At-Home
-Create a chore chart for my daughter
-Finalize a work schedule for the summer months
Fitness and Weight Loss
-Complete 1 Peloton workout each day in May
-Continue to go on walks around the neighborhood and lake as much as possible
-Focus on my Golden Behaviors
Self Care
-Open the windows on sunny days
-Blog for me
-Spend time organizing part of the house
-Set aside time for pampering/home spa treatments
TV Shows
-I’d actually like to watch less TV this month. I’m not going to make goals to replace with reading or anything specific, but I would like to use my time after the kids go to bed differently this month, especially as the sun starts to stay out longer
