Now That I'm Home

We are in such a unique place where the one thing many of us have right now is time. Normally, time is such a shortage and we just can’t keep up. We get into bed at night exhausted and frustrated because our to-do list did not get completed. The next morning we wake up and before our feet hit the floor, we feel rushed and overwhelmed.

Hopefully, you are in good health and are using precautions to keep yourself that way. Beyond this, though, you are living in a completely different speed zone. If you are home with your kids, you are really home. There are no parent meetings, after school sports or large carpools to drive around. If you are in an office during work hours, you still find yourself going straight home after. No gym workouts, drinks with coworkers, or book club gatherings.

Unexpected time is what many of have, so decisions need to be made about what to do with it. Being confined to your home can feel relaxing at first but cabin fever can spring out of nowhere, and you literally may find a member of your family scaling a door frame. Many kids will be attending virtual school so that can add structure to days, but other activities should be scheduled too. Adding variety to each day and loosely assigning segments of time to tasks can help us get through this, mentally and physically.

Many of us have been trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle and being cooped up in your home, thrown off your normal routine and feeling the temptation now more than ever to cheat, can really wreak havoc on all the progress made. Before the towel is thrown in and the brownie pan meets your face, take some time to realize all hope is not lost. Changes do need to be made to your normal health routine, but change can be for the better too.

One advantage you have is actually with food. Eating out is not really an option now and cooking at home is such a better choice. Grocery stores are still open and the internet is still running, so now is the time to find those healthy recipes and get going. Enlist other family members to help cook so this becomes an activity during the day. Host your own cooking school with your roommates and teach each other techniques. For all those unhealthy snacks sitting in the pantry, bag them up and put them out of sight. It may not be possible to dispose of them completely, but at least make them inconvenient to access.

Exercise is still possible too. How many times do you really get to enjoy fresh air? Are most of your days spent inside an office, gym or school? Now you have the time to be outside and breathe it all in. Sunrise and sunset walks or runs are simply amazing. Whether you do this alone or with someone else, in silence or with music or a podcast playing, in short spurts or long distances, your body and mind will experience clarity like no other. After walking, running or cycling, challenge yourself to an at-home workout. Today, I went through a routine of 3 sets of squats and lunges followed by an 8-minute abdominal routine. I had the music going and knocked it out as my dog was staring at me with a bewildered look. I ended with a 5-minute stretch and I felt great. After a nice glass of water, I can promise I did not want to dive into a plate of fried food and you won’t either.

Round out your extra time with projects. This can be in the form of tasks that have been put on the back burner or new inspirational goals you have dreamed about. Decluttering your house is not an official method for weight loss but it should be. When you minimize spaces and get rid of items that you do not use or love, you truly feel lighter, no matter what the scale may say. Finally checking off the list that the loose hardware is tightened, the light bulb is replaced, and the windows are cleaned can feel as fulfilling as getting a kid through college. Okay, maybe not quite as fulfilling, but you know what I’m talking about. What about those bigger things too? Starting that book you want to write, tackling the photo books you want to create and planting the herb garden you want to have can happen now.

One of the things that makes this time so unique, is the inability to plan. We are a culture that is always driving forward and looking to the future so this feels very unnatural and has the potential to make us feel stressed and anxious. I hope by eating better, moving in a new way and working on those long-awaited goals, you can get through these days. I wish you all good health!