While we are facing tremendous challenges across the globe, we are also experiencing many challenges much closer to home. As citizens, partners, friends and mothers, our lives have changed in ways that we could never have imagined, and we are left to pick up the pieces and try to find a way to make it all work.
Many families have spent the last several weeks trying to figure out how to juggle work and remote learning while also trying to find the personal fortitude to tackle the grief and pain and frustration of the current state of the world.
I am no different. For me, as an organizer, tidying my home and keeping it organized makes me more productive, but I’ve been finding it harder to do these days. And, when we were asked for tips to set up remote home offices and children’s workspaces, I realized that I was thinking about it through a lens of our old way of living – not with a lens of this new reality.
The fact is there is no secret formula. Every day is different and the best of days result in finishing about 50-60% of our to-dos and I feel ok about it.
We have been advised to create some sort of routine and structure around the remote learning school day to help alleviate anxiety. Initially, I embraced this idea with enthusiasm as I’d love nothing more than to return to the orderly structure of a typical school day. However, things don’t always work out the way they do in your mind.
Spoiler alert; structured days aren’t a reality for me and my son.
However, during some of my “off the rail” days, I have also experienced genuine moments of surprise and delight. School work gets done (mostly) but not always during school hours. Our new schedule sometimes includes movie time after lunch so I have time to tackle client needs and conference calls (movies used to be a weekend night activity). And, since early spring in the northeast is often cold and unfriendly, random mid-day breaks are encouraged. When a sunny moment arises, we jump on our bikes or scooters. Worksheets and writing assignments can wait but sunny days wait for no-one.
Observing my child, whose life up until now has been pretty structured and packed with plans, start living a life less structured and a life filled with more opportunities for free play has been inspiring. These days he isn’t grabbing for the abundant, labeled boxes of toys in his closet. His time is now consumed with more ordinary objects like an empty plastic cheese container, a garden hose and pot of dirt on the terrace. I feel more gratitude than stress during these moments and have decided to go with the flow. These moments cannot be scheduled, and I had learned to embrace them.
Day by day, I cannot predict when I will have a free moment to take care of my work to-dos. Any type of work schedule seems near impossible. However, slowly and cautiously, I have started to use the spontaneous free time in my day to catch up on emails, plug in small administrative tasks and tackle something that yields personal comfort. For me, it has been sitting with a fresh warm cup of tea while responding to emails or alphabetizing vitamins and supplements that are more than abundant in the house right now. There is no purpose to these personal comfort tasks except to ease my own unsettledness in these current times. There will be a time when focus returns to our company’s vision of perfectly executed custom cutlery drawers, but for now I am taking the surprise moments over any accomplished to-do list. While I am still getting things done, it is on a different timetable and I am very grateful to have the flexibility to see the benefits of seeing the world through a new lens - and taking the time to enjoy it.
What are some ways you have found the state of your home and home life to surprise you in the most pleasant of ways?
xx, Michelle