The Past 53 Weeks Was About Survival: What’s Next?

The last 382 days have been about survival.

Today marks a milestone for our family since the pandemic started back on March 13, 2020. Our kids are finally going back to school full time!!! Over the past year, they started at 100% virtual, when it was only supposed to be three weeks, to finishing out the school year in a way I could have never imagined in my entire life. Then we had what seemed to be the longest summer in existence. Most of their activities were canceled and we spent A LOT of time hanging around at home. August came and their district pushed back the beginning of the school year and once they did start, they were hybrid, only attending school two days a week.

Needless to say, the last 382 days were about survival.

What Happened?

Today is the first day I’ve sat down to write since May 2020. The first couple weeks of quarantine were exciting, providing tons of writing material. Then when every day started feeling like the last, there was nothing.

Sure, I could have scoured social media and the news to garner new topics, but I didn’t. I could have given my two cents about every minor decision our governor was making, but that’s not me. My ideas come from my heart and once we entered into Groundhog Day territory, I shut down too.

Not only did my writing dissipate, so did everything else. The kids’ screen time rules were basically non-existent. We all watched a little too much tv and stayed inside because it was easier.

Our kitchen was open 24/7 and everyone including myself took advantage of this. While I still took the dog on walks and did yoga daily, I was pretty much sedentary for the remainder of the day.

No one at our house wrote the great American novel or discovered a new element. We were waking up and doing the same thing day in and day out.

Sure, I had my moments where I got fed up and threw everyone outside, but that would last a couple days then we were back to our routine.

Now What?

The kids are now  in school till Memorial Day and instead of diving into my writing or finishing the current book I started during quarantine, my priority for the next six weeks is to become a person again. A real human being who takes care of herself, getting back into the habits I had before we were put on lockdown.

The next seven weeks are not about soul searching and finding my passion. It’s more about taking care of myself. And no, not self care on top of what I should be doing, but regaining my love for myself, my body and my mind. If during this time, a great new idea emerges then I’ll be open to it, but now it’s about taking what I learned over the last year and making myself a focal point again.

I mean, I’ve got to get back into shape and start incorporating more veggies into my day. How the heck am I going to make it through another quarantine (or a zombie apocalypse) if I don’t make some changes now?