For most of 2020, I was struggling mentally and emotionally with life. It was a challenge just to drag myself out of bed. My husband asked what was wrong and if anything would make it better. My issues probably weren’t anymore difficult than anyone else’s but I was weighed down. Day after day of the same stressors with no change in sight.
- My high school daughter Cheyanne slowly got in the habit of being late for school EVERY. SINGLE. DAY… even though I would wake her up with plenty of time to get ready. Cheyanne had been struggling with anxiety and she would obsess over everything (hair, make-up, clothes, shoes, belt…) until she felt that she looked presentable. As a parent I wanted her to feel comfortable going to school, I was afraid of her being made fun of or falling into depression. I also needed to make sure she went to school, even though she was late. I would drive her, no matter how late she was, which made me late for work. So, the stress of being late and the constant rushing was wearing me down.
- My four-year-old son Jaxon is an early riser. He bounds out of bed full of energy and ready to start the day. The kid talks non-stop and needs to be conversed with (we can’t simply pacify him with yeah, wow, oh, uhh huh) he literally tells us word for word how he wants us to respond.
- Compounded with the stress of those two, my job has been increasingly becoming more stressful. It was getting to the point that I would dread going into the office.
Imagine every morning rushing a teenager out of the house while a four-year-old is dictating everything you are supposed to say from the minute you wake up until he is dropped off at daycare. All this is happening while I am responding to work texts and emails because there is always something that needs to be handled first thing in the morning, while I am running late, I might add.
The burnout was real!
I told my husband that if I didn’t have to make Cheyanne get up and out the door, take Jaxon to daycare or deal with sitting in crappy traffic on my way to work all while dealing with work texts, calls and emails every day that maybe I would be less stressed.
Fast forward two or three weeks; along came this pandemic and literally saved my sanity. My husband pointed out that all of a sudden, I wasn’t having to force my daughter out the door in the morning and I didn’t have to physically go into the office anymore. All of our field employees were furloughed, so the work emergencies stopped as well.
The universe works in unexpected ways.
“You don’t need to know HOW the universe is going to rearrange itself.”
-Rhonda Byrne, The Secret
This virus is terrible, it has made people sick, it has hurt countless people financially and unfortunately has taken the lives of many others. As awful as this virus is, it saved my sanity. I had no idea how to change the situation I was in. I saw no way that it could change, short of withdrawing my daughter from school and enrolling her virtually…. which the virus did for me.
If you have been negatively affected by this virus, I’m sorry. I hope that things go back to normal for you soon. I do know that this virus has helped others take a breath and decompress from the everyday stress of life. It has helped some start their own business or take the time to complete wish list projects around their homes. Some people have started planting gardens or found a new hobby. If you are a parent, you may be pulling your hair out because of distance learning or maybe you are enjoying all the extra time you have to spend at home with your kids.
Whatever you are experiencing I hope you find the silver lining in it.
There is always something to be grateful for.
This pandemic saved me from complete burn out. I was literally crying almost daily, either before, during or after work. I needed this break more than I can ever express. Is life still stressful? Of course, it is. I am a parent of two distance learning teens and a four-year-old that we are not sending to daycare. I am still trying to work from home eight hours per day but I’m not kicking the morning off with stress and anxiety and that my friend is a step in the right direction. I don’t know what life will be like when we return to a new normal but what I can say is this break from the chaos is what my mind and body needed.
Until next time,
Sherry