Keeping my sanity during the Covid-19 / coronavirus pandemic

AKA how I’m only losing my shit occasionally during the coronavirus pandemic. I’m not going to pretend that I’m not stressed and that I haven’t had moments of panic or that I haven’t yelled at my kids, but for the most part, I’m doing ok. But it’s not just “luck” that I’m doing ok. I had to institute some things to take care of myself and make this situation bearable for me.

My number one rule: Cut myself (and my family) some slack. My kids are doing online learning now. I can still work for two of my jobs. My house needs a spring cleaning. Yada yada yada. Bottomline is that there’s plenty for me and them to do. Some days we get shit done. Some days we don’t. And that’s ok.

I’ve started a run streak. I realized late last week that I do better on days I get in at least 15 minutes of running. So, now I’m running every day. Today was only a little over a mile at a super easy pace, but it was definitely helpful. At some point I may be running laps around my block or exclusively on my treadmill, but for now I’m heading outside every day.

I’ve instituted a schedule. My boys and I are night owls and could easily become vampires, but Beer Geek is still working full time (from the basement.) So, while I don’t get up at my usual “school day” time, I have been making sure that I’m up by 8am.

I have a daily checklist of things I need to do. None of them are particularly onerous – workout, go outside, do one cleaning chore, do one organizing chore, text a friend, etc. I admit I’m being VERY generous about what I consider cleaning LOL, but just having things I need to do each day helps me stay centered.

I’m reading fluff and doing puzzles and staying off of Facebook for hours at a time. I know some people are doing truly productive things and learning new skills (I made bread today – definitely a new skill that will take some work.) I’ll get back to exercising my brain later – right now it’s on a vacation.

I’m looking for the fun or ridiculous in every day. If you are a friend on Facebook, you’ve probably seen my daily “random” posts. It started as a random one off (see what I did there), but has become part of my my daily goals.

I’m doing what I can to help others. We are fortunate in many ways, so I’m trying to share that. I’m still paying my cleaning service even though I refuse to let anyone into my house. I’m ordering my milk from a localish dairy. I’m donating to various local groups that are helping the food insecure, feeding the healthcare workers, and have helped out a few friends directly.

I’m setting some new goals. I fully expect my two May half marathons to be cancelled (after all, we have a “Stay at Home” order in Virginia until June 2nd.) So, I have a virtual relay race this weekend, I’ll be running one of those crazy “run x miles every 4 hours for 24 hours” challenges in mid April, and I’m planning to run the Historic half as a virtual.