It's no news flash that we are in very uncertain times at the moment. It feels like our whole world has been tipped upside down over the past few weeks with no notice what so ever.
And for a small business owner, the hit was felt so much harder. The endless phone calls and emails of jobs being cancelled, the future as we knew it was looking very slim and grim.
I will be the first to admit I had many moments where I wondered " How will we come back from this" or " What does it mean for the future of our business" the negative thoughts came hard and fast at the start and then because of the cancellations and ever evolving situation so did the negative mood. I lost drive, passion, structure along with many other skills that I had spent years building.
Too say I was frustrated at the situation was an understatement, but I also feel like I am not alone in those feeling either. As the days moved through and I continued with daily life ( what we could at the time) there were other hurdles that popped up. Cancellation of after-school sports ( that were already running), School events, birthday parties etc... Each with their own grief process of what our new normal was very quickly becoming.
But amongst the social distancing, home-schooling, domestic duties & emails I found myself feeling swamped, I had gone from having such a flowing routine, with a steady work load to nothing, to being the person who had to wear all the hats. The pressure felt very real of what was being asked of me to do. And what kept coming back to me was my word of the year- THRIVE. At the start of the year I set myself a word to guide my year. I didn't want to make it to December feeling like I had only survived the year. I wanted to finish it Thriving.
So I started to think about what I could do to flip it around. I started with the language I used around what was happening. The term ' Lock-down' and 'Social Distancing' felt very heavy and isolating, which I know is what we are doing but mentally it was affecting my mood. So we now use the terms ' Slow Down' because our daily life is much slower now. Physical Distancing- We can still chat with friends and family, we still have the ability for social connection, we are just doing it from the comfort of our home. I also put some thought into what else could I put into place to set my self up for success each and everyday in this 'season'.
I started to mentally take dot points, what makes me feel good about myself, what would I like to achieve during the day, how do I want the day to feel.
This was my starting point and slowly I started to feel in control again, I felt the drive and passion start to come back through, which ultimately lead to creativity and thinking of new and exciting ideas and ventures to bring to the business and our home.
I created a 'new' daily routine, set clear boundaries with myself and discussed expectations with the family. I feel it's very important to be completely transparent at this time.
So what does our day look like now: It's full of fun, laughter and pockets of work. While we have a routine/schedule we purely use this as a guide and change it as we need.
I will share it here for anyone who is looking for something to guide their day as we move through this season.
We now start our day with exercise to kick start our brains and get the endorphins pumping, this has been the biggest turning point. It really sets the tone for the day.
Our School Work/ Learning activities change daily depending on what there is to work through. This time I solely focus my attention on the kids and their needs. Giving me the opportunity to use independent play times for small pockets of work.
I have also slotted in x3 times a day for house tasks, this ensures I stay on top of housework, keeping clutter-free spaces allows for a clutter-free mind.
Our Afternoons are full of fun, switching off from school & work. We spend time filling our buckets with games, dance, music and quality time together.
Days don't always go to plan, but these small changes are certainly helping in this current season.
Stay Safe and Well
xx
