Today we are living a different life from what we are used to. It kind of feels like the school holidays, except we don’t have a house full of teenagers, and I am not driving kids all over the countryside.

School was closed quite suddenly so online schooling isn’t set up yet. One of my kids is working on Google Classroom, and the other, not so much. It’s kind of exciting that they will have time to develop and master other skills outside of the classroom as we hunker down for 4 weeks.

Unfortunately, with school closed and isolation in place, our teens will be missing their friends. Friends are everything to teens so I am thankful for social media and FaceTime. It is a great way for them to connect and process what is happening. 

In saying that we still need to monitor what they are consuming because too much negativity about COVID-19 is not good for the brain as it can cause stress and anxiety. We need to debrief with our kids as much as possible to put things into perspective.

My sister-in-law in Sonoma County in the U.S is already a week ahead of me in her isolation journey. She had the brilliant idea of getting her kids to write in a journal every day about their experience in lockdown. It will be a piece of history that they can look back on with their future families.

I think a daily gratitude journal is a great way to boost mental health. Write down or talk about 3 things you are grateful for every day. Because there is always something to be grateful for. 

We have a blackboard in the kitchen where I will be writing a bible verse or an inspirational quote daily to encourage us as a family. We are what we think we are so it is a good idea to think about positive things.

It is going to be a stressful time for parents as we all settle into this new way of living. So we will need to prioritise self-care. We are lucky that we are allowed to go outside for a walk or a run as long as we practice social distancing.

Try to do the things that you love by adapting them to fit into your new lifestyle. I will be practising Aikido on Tuesday and Thursday as I usually would. But for now, my lounge will be my new dojo.

Remember that life will go back to normal again and that there is good that can come from being in isolation. We can learn how to be flexible and recognise true ‘needs’ from ‘wants’.

Let’s be gracious to one another and reach out to those in need in our community.