Oh man… I have really REALLY  felt the weight of the world recently. It is hard to make myself write anything or get through more than basic survival and my mental health has not been at its best. I know one of the best self care things I can do besides moving my body is to cultivate gratitude, even (especially) when I don’t feel like it… so I’ve been brainstorming some more of the good things from our COVID19 lockdown:
*My son has had a chance to explore new interests and skills- ESPECIALLY drawing
*My kids truly are now even closer best friends
*Since giving birth in February, I’ve pretty much NEVER changed out of nursing tank tops and rarely even throw a t-shirt over them- a small perk of basically never leaving the house
*This whole thing has REALLY fine tuned my sense of gratitude- things I’ve become deeply grateful for on a visceral level- electricity! a backyard! finding eggs and milk and paper products at the grocery store! Tea made from filtered water instead of tap water! and of course basic health and safety- a body that is healthy enough to run and do yoga and snuggle my kids, even when I’m exhausted.
*Being “stuck” with awesome people- I know some people are going crazy with their families or significant others, and believe me there are days I feel so defeated and totally exhausted and like I am failing on all fronts, but at the end of the day I wouldn’t want to be stuck in my house with anyone else. I keep thinking of the Leslie Knope line “I like you and I love you” and I’m so grateful.
*My garden and the gorgeous flowers it has been giving us- sunflowers galore on top of roses, nasturtiums, zinnias, and bachelor buttons. A rainbow of hope on days that the world seems bleak.
*Good enough has become a focus for so many people- especially when it comes to homeschooling if you don’t want to lose your mind and celebrations that had to be drastically changed… but given that my word of the year was “good”- this has really forced me to focus on it in a way I didn’t anticipate
*The amazing free resources and support that came out of this time (especially Mo Willems lunchtime doodles!, but back when we were still trying to crisis school we also loved supplementing with Laurie berkner’s story kitchen on audible, Disney plus documentaries, and so many free story time options…
*Speaking of good, I have spent so much time noticing the goodness of creation and nature- we have spent an immense amount of time outside and just watching flowers bloom and veggies grow has been a beautiful reminder of the way life goes on. It has been hard to welcome the warmer weather because we have loved spending so much of our days outside before the triple digits arrived.
*I have had the best distraction- an insanely happy baby who will (hopefully) have absolutely NO memory of this and who is growing and learning every day

This doesn’t mean the days aren’t hard or that we don’t have a lot of work to do-but this time is going to go on and I can either miss the good stuff or notice and document it to help myself and my kids understand it and build resilience. What are some good things you’ve found from this weird time? How are you building resilience amidst the particularly hard moments?

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