We are now living a new normal. The appearance of COVID-19 has changed our lives completely. We have had to change how we interact with others, the way we work now is different, and our children have had to get used to studying and learning through a screen for months.
There is no doubt that it has been hard for everyone, but as time passes, we have adapted, and at the same time, we have created new life routines to begin to feel calmer and prevent the virus from spreading.
When the order to stay at home began, many of us started working from home. At first, it seemed like it would be something temporary, but now it has become for many the new way of working that is here to stay. Setting a home office has its good things and not so positive things, but we must find a balance for our wellbeing so that the difficulties that arise do not alter our physical and mental health.
Experience the change from working in an office to working from home has been challenging. As a parent, now more than ever, we know that we need to feel well and look for activities and practices that help us be calm, happy, and safe to help our children and be more productive at work.
Here are some of the things we could implement to take care of ourselves every day:
Enjoy Morning Meditation
When the way we lived changed suddenly, we all began to feel stress and anxiety that we never experienced. Meditation is a fantastic way to reduce stress and anxiety. It gives you skills to reduce negative emotions, teaches you to focus on the present, and promotes tolerance, patience, and creativity. I know that our daily schedules are busy, but dedicating just 5 minutes of our day to meditate can help us feel good.
Design Your Small Town at Home
Try to physically separate office space, school, entertainment, and workout space within the home. Children must understand that are moments when mom or dad needs to be in the home office’s privacy. And it can be as simple as designing signs together that we can place on the doors or windows of the spaces for the different activities. Our time for at-home entertainment and exercise is just as important as studying and working. We must try to differentiate the area in which we will have our movie or game nights and the place where we will set our home gym.
Make a Menu Together
For many parents, daily cooking becomes a mental burden since family members’ tastes are often different. Discussing meal options as a family can help lighten the weight generated by everyday cooking. That way, we can reach agreements, and everyone feels that their tastes were taken into account when creating the menu. A practical way to do it is to design a weekly menu that can make grocery shopping easier.
Stay Active
Staying active at home can involve simple things like gardening, laundry, washing windows, or even having your exercise routine at home. Before COVID 19, just going to our offices kept us active. Now that we are working at home, we must search for ways to move. Try getting up from the desk a few times a day, be seated for long periods can be bad for us, and we can also establish times in which we change from working sitting to work standing up at the kitchen counter or with a standing desk.
Embrace the New Normal
Our whole life has changed, now we have to be at home for our health and safety. Let’s find the best way to live this new normal for our wellbeing and mental health.