Like most people in the world today, we’ve been riding the emotion locomotion over lockdown. With restrictions continuing and increasing our routine will change yet again. It’s incredibly difficult to remain calm and enthusiastic about the unforeseen future.
Both kids are surprisingly adapting and we’re all attempting to navigate our way as best we can each day. Yes, we’ve experienced negative emotions but overall, we’ve embraced spending more quality time together and enjoyed positive outcomes working on independence and long-term goals around the home.
We’re maintaining a very basic home learning routine of regular reading, writing, calendar and time. Madi’s learning social questions for example, full name, date of birth, address and phone numbers and we’ve successfully introduced a chore chart for routine, goals and increased independence.
Unfortunately, the longer lockdown is progressing the harder it’s becoming to remain optimistic.
The current situation is extremely overwhelming, so maintaining our mental health is important to help our whole family survive during this time.
We’ve been aiming to sustain a relatively healthy and balanced lifestyle for the whole family to manage best mentally.
Regular exercise has been and always is essential. Each day we’ve ventured out for either a walk, ride, scoot, kick, shoot or bounce, mixing it up around various local locations. Thomas is always bouncing indoors on his exercise ball with Madi following her favourite dance routines.
Apart from our family affair, most days I also ensure an independent me time work out too. Usually at the very least, a quick 20 mins to half hour first thing in our home gym to get the blood flowing and set myself up for the day ahead. Noticeably I feel less energetic about the day if I skip my morning regime.
I’ve also been joining the odd zoom Pilates class for interaction and extra motivation which helps. There are countless online exercise options available.
We’ve been maintaining regular Facetime, zoom meetings and messages with family and friends to remain in contact and socialize. It’s uplifting to see and hear from loved ones even if you’re not always up for it at the time. It’s also been superb for the kids to practice their speech and conversation skills.
While wine may be a savior for some and used to be for me, I’ve purposely limited my intake. As much as I would love to surrender at times, I know it’s not good for me, especially in this increased emotional state. I feel more depressed and less motivated to do all the things I intend to. I’m not my best self, which I absolutely need to be at the moment.
When I’m actually in a cooking mood I’ve been preparing a few meals at a time to stock up on supplies and have not felt guilty about ordering take away to support local businesses in need.
We feel so fortunate our employment has continued and our hearts go out to all businesses seriously affected during this time!
Being kind to ourselves, finding balance, maintaining exercise and focusing on household goals has been extremely beneficial for our family.
This latest lockdown is hitting everyone even harder. Please be kind and support each other to help ride it out as best we can.
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