Good morning, afternoon, evening, or night!
Let’s talk about finding balance during this new era of social distancing. We are in the house more than we have ever been before! Let’s be honest! We are accustomed to living very busy lives. Very busy. Usually there is a constant array of social gatherings anywhere from meetings, happy hour, extracurricular curricular activities for the kids, and even social activities for ourselves! Soccer, basketball, football, golf, tennis, dance, piano lessons, music instruments, happy hour, brunch, dinner or outings with friends are just some of those things. VACATION!! Anything we can think of to enhance our lives, we do it. Most of the time those activities do not take place in our homes. If it does it is definitely not a home practicing social isolation. This is something totally new to us. Today I’m going to list a couple of things that may help us find a little balance in each day. These are only some things that I have found that helps me find a little peace during this new time in our lives.
First wake up! Relax in your bed and meditate for just a moment before getting out. Now, it does not have to take 30 minutes to meditate on the day. Let be honest with other people in your home 30 minutes will more than likely get interrupted. Think about what you may want to do for today. Guess what? If your plan is only to chill the bed and watch TV for today or tomorrow that is totally fine!! As long as your kids or dependents are taken care of you are good! Believe me these kids know how to adjust to us. Many of us seek a word from God. Take a moment. Get that word. Then get up. Wash your face. Brush your teeth. Throw on a T-shirt and a comfortable pair of bottoms. I usually wear stretch pants because my husband likes for our house to be a little bit cooler than I care for so if I walk around the house with shorts I’m usually freezing. But I have found that once I put on clothes, it gives me a different outlook on my day! Breakfast comes before or after this. Whether it be just a piece of fruit, a cup of yogurt, a bowl of cereal, or eggs. I love veggie scrambles but sometimes that takes a lot time out my morning or afternoon. Lately, I have been trying to be smart about it. When I do my scramble, I chop extra veggies. It IS ok to put them in a sandwich bag, container, foil, plastic, & etc. to store them in the fridge for the next day or so. The next time I wake up with a taste for veggies with my eggs I’m already couple of steps ahead because most of my vegetables already cut up. The spinach & fresh tomatoes are an easy add. It’s simple things like this that can make our lives flow just a little bit easier.
The other thing that I suggest is try to get outside even if it’s for just a moment. That Vitamin D helps y’all!! WALK to the mailbox. I laugh because my husband used to have this big thing even at his old place that he would drive to the mailbox to check the mailbox. It was the easy thing to do I mean he was running out for errands anyway so he would just check the mailbox then. Even with our daily schedules here he would check the mailbox from his vehicle in between errands. We are not doing as many errands now so the mail still needs to be checked. Put on one of your favorite songs. A song that lifts your spirit. A song that puts you in a good place. Put it on! If you don’t have ear-pods or headphones, let it play on the speaker of your phone. I have found that music therapy really soothes my soul!! As it should, I sort of come from a musical family. I mean my father was a DJ back in the day shout out to “Dave the baby”! LOL. My aunt sang. My uncle (her brother) played the guitar. We had social clubs in our family so we were a musical family. Plus, my mom raised me in the church. We would go to different churches “singing’s” as we used to Call it. Music was always around and every time it was around, it lifted my spirit. I could tap my feet. I could move my head to the rhythm & beat. I could close my eyes and feel it. Yes,sometimes I may shed a tear but even then the music feels good. It feels right. If you don’t want to or can’t walk outside, turn your music on while you’re getting in the shower. Turn it on when you get ready to wash up are for bed. Make you a playlist of songs. You know those songs. The ones that when you hear them they put you in a place like no other. Play that playlist while you are doing your daily necessities. You have to go in the bathroom. You have to brush your teeth. You have get in the shower, dry off, oil up, & put on your night clothes. All the while your nice playlist could be playing.
Lastly. I have been staying up for my quiet time when everyone else is asleep. I am up doing things in the house or online that I did not get a chance to do earlier. I wear so many hats in the day time. Late at night, well that is when my house is the most quiet. It is the time for me to get my thoughts together about the next day. I do try to have a cut off time though. It is usually in the wee hours of the morning. I still get my 7 to 8 hours of sleep. Why not? Where do we have to go tomorrow? The kids are out of school. I am home from work. My husband works from home already. We do not have anywhere to go this week. It is spring break! We cancelled our beach vacation. This was my scheduled week off. What better week to start my blog. “TPN Taste of Love”. I hope that these small suggestions help you. I would love to hear about the things that you all are doing at this time stay balanced in your lives. We are ALL shifting. This is something that we have never experienced before. Let me hear from you guys. We all can learn from each other. Until the next time…Be safe, be patient, & take a little time for yourselves. ~TPN TOL