We are nearly one year into the COVID19 pandemic. I hope that you and yours are all healthy. My husband had COVID and thankfully breezed through it; in fact he had a few sniffles and did not realize it was COVID until he lost taste and smell after the sniffles stopped. Thank goodness nobody contracted it from him; I credit our vitamins and am thankful for our continued health. Fortunately our shop was considered essential and we did not have to close our doors. Business has slowed over the past year so we now close an hour earlier and have eliminated most over-time but did not have to lay anyone off. The business has felt the hit however we are chugging along and making it work. Our kiddo’s preschool closed last March. It has since reopened but we decided to keep them as isolated from the chaos as we can until the nation/world figures things out and we get on with whatever new normal we will adopt. Rather than increase the amount of time that they spend in the office with me (which was already about 30 hours each week) I made the decision to primarily work from home and homeschool preschool and kindergarten. It has been a fantastic challenge that has its ups and downs and I belief it was the best option for our family.a

I know that COVID has changed nearly aspect of most of our lives. While it is tough at times, I would like to share about some of the positives in my life since I began working from home (after I moved most of my office and set myself up to work from home, that was a pain!).

1. More time. I now have about two additional hours each day. And I am in better physical shape and lost the bags under my eyes.

Prior to the pandemic I spent approximately two hours each day driving to and from preschool, work, post-office, etc. That is a lot of time! Once I realized that I had this extra time I  committed myself to more exercise and more sleep.

Since 2017 my exercise routine was virtually non-existent outside of strolls to the business center mailbox to get fresh air and a relaxing weekend walk with the family. We eat pretty well but exercise is such an important piece of the puzzle. This once athletic lady now has more muscle tone and feels physically better than I have in years.

We can all use extra sleep! I am a night-owl by nature even when I knew I had to be up early to get kids to school. Now, I have some freedom to do my best work (which I do I night) and not drag myself around like a caffeinated zombie the following day. I love this. I do feel a little guilty since my hardworking husband is up so much earlier than I am, BUT he does go to sleep much earlier than I do so I suppose it evens out.

2. My kids are much happier.

This is a huge bonus. My oldest had been in preschool since she was 18 months old and she never got used to Mom leaving her. She loved school, her teachers, her friends but she loves her Mom more. She thanks me for not making her go anymore. My youngest feeds off of the oldest quite a bit; he enjoyed school and did have some separation anxiety but also had his big sister to walk him to class and that was enough for him. Plus, they have more time together; my kids are best friends and watching their relationship grow is beautiful.  We truly enjoy our extra time together (Yes, I am that mom who loves pretty much every moment I have with my kids. Ever since reading about how Jackie Kennedy was criticized in the press for playing with her children as though she was a child I have admired her. I love playing with my kiddos and wish I could all day everyday). Back on track, happy kids= happy mama with less mom guilt.

3. Fewer Distractions

Yes, working at home with kids is full of warming milk, snacks, accompanying someone to the potty, occasional tears, etc. I was fortunate that my kids we able to join me at work when they were not in pre-school, in fact my son spent the first two years of his life at work with me. While kids can be a distraction whether I am at work or home, I only have my cell phone to answer not the shop phone that made me stop what I was doing and make an appointment or check on the status of a job. I do not have anyone on the team coming into my office, I am not stopping to visit with customers or vendors who stop in. I believe it is said that it takes about 20 minutes to get back on track after being distracted and that was an issue when I was at the shop everyday. Not really something I could get around: phones need to be answered, it is my job to keep the communication lines open between employees, and we appreciate our customers and enjoy keeping up on their lives. That being said, I do better recovering from the distractions in my house than I did at work and I feel more productive!

4. Time for new goals

Although we are grateful that our shop never had to close its doors due to the pandemic, we do love the idea of 2 weeks of being healthy and living in quarantine at home to get caught up on projects; we have been somewhat envious of those who had that time. Since the shop now closes earlier each day my husband gets home earlier, and we have utilized this time to build on some of our dreams that we had on the back burner. We have written new business plans, applied for a trademark, and are on the road to some exciting things. Once our developments are further along, I will share them with you all! While COVID has complicated some aspects of our lives and made business tough, it made us realize that we need to commit to our goals and make them happen! I am very excited!

5. We have said goodbye to the morning rush.

This may be the biggest positive for me. As mentioned above, I am a night owl. My son is not an early bird and though my daughter is, she definitely enjoys taking her time in the morning. I stay up too late pretty much every night which used to mean I was exhausted every morning. Now that I do not have to get the kids to school they are not in a rush to eat or get ready and neither am I. I love getting ready as soon as I wake up but the kids like to hang out in their jammies and graze through breakfast and now they can! Our days no longer start with stress. I never liked having to wake my sleeping son and believe that kids should get to sleep as long as their little bodies need to but because of school and work he was forced to wake. If he is woken up he is grouchy so mornings were rarely pleasant. He would cry as I got him ready, would refuse breakfast and while I knew what to expect each morning, I dreaded it. Now he wakes up when he is ready and gets some snuggies with mom, reads with me and drinks a milk, and then moves on to breakfast and playtime. It is a much better routine for all of us.

6. More time outdoors

Fresh air is soothing to me. I would work outside all day if the weather and wind permitted an outdoor office. Working from home allows me to get outdoors more. At work my only fresh air came when walking to and from the car or when I walked two buildings down to get the mail. Now, I step out when my dogs go out to potty, when the kids want to play outside (I do as much work as I can on the porch when it is warm out). I can take a break to visit with our barn cats, throw the hens some scratch, love on the horses and muck stalls. Sometimes I go out and pull weeds for 10-15 minutes. Short (and long) stints outside give me mental clarity and simply make me feel better overall. I just have to have the discipline to go back inside.

I hope that you have been able to find some positive during this pandemic. It is important for us to focus on the good and not dwell on the bad when we can. It has not been easy but the pandemic has not been all bad either.

Please share the positives in your life over the past year! I look forward to hearing from you.