I knew that the quarantine was coming before the announcement came and honestly, I wasn’t mad at it. I don’t want my family to be exposed to a disease that doctors just don’t know much about. And if I’m being completely honest, I needed a break from the hustle and bustle of getting 3 kids to and from 3 different schools at 3 different times while navigating extra-curricular actives and, well, life. Dare I say I was looking forward to quarantine life?
I was excited about all the courses I was going to take, extra time with my husband and kids, and work I was going to get done. And then we actually started staying home and, well, it’s not what I thought it would be.
The Quarantine Life I Thought I Would Have
Increased Productivity
Listen, having to break to pick kids up and drop them off and drive all the places is almost a full time job itself and often an interruption to my work day. I figured that we would all be working together—the kids on their schoolwork and me on mine. Even though they’re back home with me and we’re technically homeschooling, I don’t have to make up the curriculum—I just have to make sure their work gets done. What better way to do it than work at the same time!
Take All The Free Courses
And the ones I’ve already paid for but didn’t have time to complete. So many online course hubs were gifting their courses and I was going from site to site and class to class making sure I had access to these. I was like, I’ll be like a caterpillar in this quarantine and come out of it a smart, beautiful butterfly!
Workout More Consistently
I wasn’t leaving the house to workout anyway so the closing of the gyms were nothing for me. My favorite workout buddy is my husband and since he’s stuck at home too, I figured that this would be a great way to train for the zombie apocalypse while spending quality time together. We could be all those couple workout goals I see on Instagram!
Fine Tune Some Things
That’s so general—I know. But I there are some things I would like to improve upon with parenting, my marriage and my home. Having everyone home means we could all work on these things together.
I had some big plans for quarantine life! And then I started living in quarantine…
The Quarantine Life I Actually Have
Let me preface this by saying that it’s quite lame.
Mask Making Dominates My Time
And this is my fault. One of the lessons I’m learning during these quarantine times is in setting boundaries and expectations. Because I sew, I was asked an incredible amount of times if I would be making masks. My partner and I donated over 300 masks without pay and then we started selling them. We sold out in a day.
Why not just stop? Because I’m a helper. I want people to be as safe as they can be during these times and if there’s something I can do to aid in this, I will. But it’s also time consuming and has left me with tense shoulders and my lower back in pain.
Sleeping Late
For some this is a yay moment but not for me. I’m a huge supporter of waking up before your kids so you can pour into yourself before catering to those around you. And I haven’t been able to do it. Most mornings, my husband and I are up around 8am with BC and then the girls wake up closer to 9am. Abc has Zoom calls with her class at 9am so I’m always looking frazzled as I get her set up.
Obsessed With Social Media
I can’t count how many hours I’ve spent scrolling. It’s an anxious energy thing. I know way more information than I ever thought I would know about N95 masks, cloth masks, germs, and more. There’s something about spending 2 hours watching TikTok videos that soothes my soul.
What’s Productivity?
Sleeping late + always on social media + making masks + teaching means that I’ve not been productive. I wanted to finish my book, have some really dope content produced (I have some really amazing projects in the works), and grow my brands but nope. I’m just surviving and praying I’m still relevant!
I’ve Completed Zero Classes
All those classes I was excited to take have either expired or just are no more. I wasn’t able to fit a single 30min class in between mask making and TikTok scrolling so far.
I’ve Barely Worked Out
Now the first 2 weeks of quarantine I was on it. I was getting walks in, jumping rope, using my Proform HIIT machine and my BodyBoss. It was all sorts of awesome. But getting my husband to workout with me felt like such a chore and I just couldn’t add that to my plate.
So yeah… quarantine life is definitely not what I thought it was going to be. It’s hard to behave normally when you’re not sure when you’ll ever be able to touch your loved ones outside your house again. Functioning anything remotely close to normal is virtually impossible when you’re worried about whether your family members will make it out alive, it’s hard to be productive and creative.
If this is you and all you’re doing is surviving, I want you to know that’s enough and you’re enough. These are hard times so it’s ok to not want to be out here thriving—just like it’s ok to be doing that. Do what’s best for you and your family as we work through this new normal of quarantine life.
