Life Returns
This past year has been crazy. I have worked in the hospital setting both taking care of Covid patients as a respiratory therapist and teaching students to be respiratory therapists in a clinical setting. I have also helped with home schooling for our little grandson in first grade with Zoom schooling. Wow, that was intense. At first is was new and shiny and he did okay but he soon tired of having 28 students on zoom classes all day and having to wait for his turn and all that normal school stuff. It was just made harder sometimes by being at home with someone always sitting with him and distraction from his home environment. Add in a recent ADHD diagnosis and we were struggling a lot toward the spring. Our school finally went back to hybrid in-person schooling for the last 7 weeks but we choose to keep him at home due to the fact that his mom hadn’t had a vaccination yet and is immuno-compromised.
I can honestly say I was never so happy the school year ended in my life!!
But what were some of the positives to come out of all this?
One, Not a single person in our home got a cold, flu or any other illness. Hmmm, masks and washing hands works. I for one am planning on continuing to use them in the future as both protection from others illnesses and protecting them from me. I hope that the stigma of masks is in the past. We know, now, it helps.
Two, I appreciate my family and friends so much more. I spent so much time just on video calls and texts that when we finally get together it is so special and I never want to take it for granted again.
Three, I’ve had some time to spend doing things I am often too busy to do like practicing singing, reading, catching up on great shows, gardening/yard work—I dug, by myself, a big hole and created a garden pond that has become my Zen spot to relax where I can listen to the waterfall and meditate.
Finally, I have also had to time to reflect on what is important to me. I am still working on that one. I know I am too hard on myself most of the time and I am, too much, a people-pleaser without thinking about what I really want or what makes me fulfilled. This is a work in process but I have a good start on it now. I know now I feel happiest when I am being creative. It doesn’t seem to matter if that is singing, painting, building, sewing, cooking as long as it feels like I am using my talents. Often, as moms and caretakers, we get caught up into the endless cycle of what others need from us, forgetting that we need to be happy to be able to be the best we can be. I am working on being gentler on myself and giving myself permission to do what makes me happy. I have a bracelet that says “I am enough!” I wear it all the time to remind my self. If I do take it off, on the inside, it tells me to (pardon the language)…… “F*@k Perfection”!!!
