Think back to your life before enforced hunker-down initiatives…recall a typical day without restrictions.
- What time did you wake?
- How many tasks did you tackle before walking out the door for your first appointment?
- How many different interactions did you have throughout the day (face to face, through email, through text, through social-media, etc.)?
- How much time was spent with family? With friends?
- Did you eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner together as a family?
- Was a bedtime routine in place (including for yourself)?
- Were there sporting events or other activities to attend to before bedtime?
- Did you feel rested?
When you compare your pre-COVID-19 days to your current reality, you are likely noticing a huge difference. While you may have once been struggling to see each member of your household for more than fifteen-minutes pre-COVID, you may now be wishing for a fifteen-minute break from everyone. And, if you are like most, you are anxiously awaiting the day when you can resume your old-lifestyle.
According to ComPsych Corporation’s 2017 StressPulseSM survey, almost 60% of employees report being in the high-stress category. Workload—and thus being constantly busy—is one of the largest culprits to high stress.”
What’s worse, however, is that “The American Psychological Association in 2018 found that Generation Z is the most stressed-out age group due to factors such as violence, political turmoil, finances and health. And Millennials and Gen Z are known to have disproportionately high rates of anxiety, loneliness and depression.”
In a super-connected world (virtually), our youngest generations are feeling lonely? Maybe we need to look at our definition of connectivity.
Five-weeks of isolation with no clear end in sight can easily yield anxiety, but perhaps this slowed pace is providing our community a much-needed cure for the ‘common busyness.’
Here are a few suggestions for ways to reinvest ourselves and in our children to make lifelong impacts:
School Yourselves:
- Learn a New Language
- “Travel” the world from your Living Room (or DIY by choosing to study a new country each week)
- Explore the Smithsonian
Become the Best Neighbors Ever
- Get to know ‘that guy’ across the pond or ‘that older lady who always walks her dog’ by starting a socially-distanced conversation
- Offer to help older neighbors or working parents by mowing the lawn or walking their dog
- Use sidewalk chalk to create uplifting sidewalk murals
Host Awesome Quarantine Parties
- Utilized technology to host virtual parties or game nights with extended family and friends
Get Active Together
- Get outside (walk, run, roller blade, bike ride)!
- Do sunrise or sunset yoga
True, isolation and lack of freedom to travel whenever with whomever can be frustrating. Time stuck at home with the same people can be frustrating. Balancing work, schoolwork, and leisure time from home can also be frustrating.
BUT, we can take full advantage of the time we now have. Let’s become better friends, better family members, better people.