Week 6- Changes

Hello and welcome to week 6 everyone. I hope you've had a great week. What's everyone snacking on this week? This week I'm having a Philly Cheese Chimichanga. It's absolutely amazing. If anyone's local to the Northeast Metro area in Minnesota, check out Tomatoes Restaurant. It's really delicious. Are you ready? Lets get started.

This week I wanted to talk about changes. There's a lot of changes going on right now for everyone. I think we can all agree that the main change is the pandemic and how that's affected our daily lives. We can't really go out anywhere. We can't really see people. A lot of us went home for work. Our kids came home from school. Our lives have been turned upside down for the past 10 months or so. Besides this massive change, there are times in life where we face other changes in life. Change is inevitable. What are some changes that you're going through right now? Good changes? Bad changes? Just changes? Have these changes been triggered by COVID? Something else? How do we deal with changes? How are you handling them?

Changes come in all forms and sizes. Some are smaller than others and can be a little more easy to manage. Others are more difficult and can be extremely difficult to get through. They can be life changing or they can be a minor inconvenience. They can also change our lives for the better. COVID has been an unbelievable journey. In my case, I had already been working from home, so that wasn't a change for me. My husband's work actually got busier. He's still out in the field doing some security system work. My kids started out doing the hybrid system with school and now they've been home full time since November. It's been a whirlwind. Working from home previous to COVID was a nice change, but had it's struggles. I had been home for a couple of years and it took some adjustment to not get distracted with my pets and the other stimulus at home. With time, however, I had found a nice routine. When COVID hit and the kids came home, it became a whole new ball game. Not only was I work at home boss bitch, but I was all of a sudden homeschool teacher. I also had some new responsibilities at home during the work day with the kids. We first had to make sure that I had a computer for working my job, and we had to make sure that the kids had computers. We switched up our routines at first. We were good about having lunch ready on time and making sure bedtime was still at a decent time. I mean, how long would they really be home, right? The kids were really excited at first. It felt like a really long winter break. They still had school, but it looked a little different. They didn't have to get ready in the morning. They could just roll out of bed and start school. Now they were taking a page out of moms book. Did that routine last? Nope. Now it looks chaotic. We have a really hard time with routines right now. Bedtime is planned at about 9. What time is it really? About 10-10:30. They fight tooth and nail. Homework? It's a struggle to get them to do. Exercise routine? Not much of one. Arguing and anxiety from everyone? You bet. This change has been so rough for all of us. With working from home during the day and having family and business time at night, my alone time was during the day. I had the house to myself. I work 4 10's and have Thursdays off. I had a whole day to myself. It filled up my cup mostly. Now I feel like I don't have my alone time that we all need. That designated time to recharge, is gone. My kids and myself, just don't feel right anymore. We're trying so hard, but it's difficult. So how do we deal with this? What's the answer? The truth is, we're still trying to deal. It's been a constant sit down and talk with Don. We come up with new plans and ideas to get things back on track somewhat. We start each day new and try. Sometimes it works somewhat, and sometimes it doesn't. We can't give up. Our surroundings and lives have changed. We have to quit fighting it and adapt.

How do we adapt to changes? We can try to fight it. If it's a big one like COVID, we kind of tend to go through the stages of grief. We fight it, we get angry, we beg for it to go back, we bargain, then we need to change with it. I think the best route to go is to first sit down and acknowledge the change. This is what it looks like. Now what do we do to change with it? A plan needs to be made. Sit down with the family and discuss the change and what it means. Then, together, come up with a new plan; a new routine. Involve your whole family in it, including the kids. Don't exclude them. It's important that everyone feels like they're a part of the plan. If everyone feels a part of it, the more willing they may be to go along with it. The hardest part, is follow through. That has been our biggest problem. Why is it so tough? Change is hard. We like to hold onto our routines. Keep trying to find what works. Never give up on making it work. With everything going on right now, it's so easy to get frustrated. To get discouraged and seem like nothing is working out right now. It's really hard to adapt and feel right again. I'm in this boat right now. Can anyone else relate? On top of everything, I have anxiety. That's making it even worse to deal right now. If anyone else has anxiety or depression, or even both, change in your routine really throws you off. Small changes can even seem so impossible. If you're feeling this way, you're not alone. A ton of us are feeling that way. On top of everything COVID related, the nation and the world are going through big changes. Every time you turn on the news, it can put you in a terrible head space. Right now depression, anxiety, loneliness, isolation etc, is front and center.

What are some other things we can do to battle these feelings and feel any sense of calm again? One thing we can consider is seeing a therapist. There's absolutely no shame in it. I am someone who sees a therapist. I can't express enough how much it helps. I see her for 45 minutes at a time. She's someone who's completely neutral. I have unloaded all of this to her. She told me that I'm not alone. She says that so many other parents/partners/people are feeling the same way right now. A lot of us are struggling. Let's do it together. Another option is journaling. I know that I've said this before. It really does help. Right it down and get it out of your head. It's so therapeutic. Open up to people who you trust. Talk about it. Get on the phone with your friends and family. Let them in. Bounce ideas off of each other. My inbox is always open on here. I may not have the answers, but I'm an ear to listen. Do things that make you happy. Definitely don't forget about your your time. Your self care time. Things seem to always come back to that. It's important. You can't take care of anyone else if you don't take the steps to take care of yourself first. I was told that I need to make myself the priority. I've been thinking about that a lot. I don't think I've done that yet. At least not before I had a family. We can weather this storm. I know we can. We need to find ways to make it work. Now, more than ever, we need to support each other. We need to find our happiness again.

That's it for this week. I hope everyone has a fantastic week and I hope to see you come back next week. Please share this blog and tell everyone about it. I'd love to get more subscribers. Please reach out with any questions, suggestions, or just to say hi.