Quarantine Reflections: My Report Card

Even though it snowed most of the day, I still felt it. That shift in spirit that whispers we’ve overcome the biggest hurdle and soon we’ll experience the return of life outside our home. Like staying home, it won’t be perfect and adjustment will be slow, but I truly feel we’ve hit rock bottom and we’re on the upswing.

Cue praising and dancing.

Anyway, I’m a thinker and I try to process my experiences. What did I learn? What went well? What was an epic fail? I’ll blog on that next. For now, I thought I’d share what I though as far as winners and losers.

What Did I Learn?

• We’re a resilient, creative people. Medical personnel were short on masks? Enter families making masks. Only allowed out for essential travel? We’ve kept schedules to stay sane. We’ve made meals out of a few ingredients and made food last. We’ve kept our kids on track with school. We’ve for the most part smiled at strangers during walks, at scared people in stores, smiled to anyone we’ve come in contact with because—we can’t have contact. And, well, humanity. We’re better at that than I thought.

• We’re a generous, compassionate people. I joined a Facebook group that kept track of what small businesses were open for drive-thru business or in safe ways that we could purchase from. It’s a busy group. People are getting take out to keep families going who own these places. There are people donating meals to be delivered to nursing homes and hospitals. One pizzaria announced enough donations came in for the general public that they were making pizzas for free, and I believe that offer lasted more than one day. No strings. Free pizza. Another group lets locals know what products can be found at what stores. Neighbors are offering to pick up items if someone needs it. Folks are giving haircut money they would have used in April to add to the actual haircut they hope to get in May.

What Went Well

Now I’m pointing a finger at me. I am a wife, mom, and author who manages these things at home. Every day. All day. The stay-at-home protocol adds three more people, also known as my family, to this home. Every day. All day. So how did that go?

Julie

When I returned from an Upstate NY visit in early March, it hit me that this virus is real, and bigger than we imagined. Within days I went from driving 300 miles with a couple canisters of wipes with me to learning both kids would be remote learning. Then my husband went to his office knowing he had to get a lot done because he’d be called home soon. By that afternoon, the office was told to shut down and everyone in the company had to work from home until further notice. I am an introvert and I love my space. I crave it. And I honestly thought I’d lose my mind sooner than later.

It’s not been perfect, but it has been actually great. We’ve taken walks as a family. Walked the dog. Watched TV together. Took drives to find crosses Easter week. As for schooling, they have a schedule, and so do I. We are very blessed to have space to get our stuff done and not bump into each other. My husband has an office at home, but even when he uses the room we lovingly call his “cave,” it doesn’t really bother me.

I admit I’m in the middle of finishing a book and releasing it so I do like my quiet and focus. I can work while one of the kids binges Friends. It is harder when the husband is on a conference call. It is near impossible when he’s eating salad and clangs the bowl. A lot. But again, I thought these things would throw me over the edge. Only the salad bowl had me tense up and think I need out of here. That’s a great surprise!

My Faith. It would be easy to lose ground during a quarantine/pandemic when it comes to faith. People are sick and dying. I don’t understand that. But instead of turning away from God, I’ve been intentional about digging in. I recently reviewe the CSB Life Essentials Bible and it is interactive. I am really soaking up not just keeping up with my daily Bible plan on YouVersion (Chasing Truth read the Bible in a year plan,) but listening to Life Principles with Gene A. Getz on the Life Essentials app. It’s opening my eyes to God’s word in ways I’ve missed before. I’m reading more, learning more, praying more. There are things I feel God is saying, and I don’t think I would have been as observant. That’s not natural for me, so I thank God for helping me with these things that are going well.

My hair. I am superficial. Aging is helping that somewhat, but it’s still there. I looked yesterday at my app and my last haircut was in January. I remember thinking once I returned from my NY trip in March, I’d get a cut. Well, that didn’t happen. Early on I thought maybe we’d be back to business in mid April. Well, that had to be rescheduled. Now I’m scheduled for early May. My hair does not grow long. It grows OUT. I am usually so over it I take scissors to hand. And I’m not in any kind of panic. Am I ready? Absolutely. But I’m not losing my mind.

What’s Been an Epic Fail

Exercise. I was on a great trek with my recumbent bike and yoga. It gave me peace and some muscle tone. When this all first happened, we were out walking. Walking. Walking. Well, it has rained. Snowed. Rained more. Snowed again. So cold. We walked during some rain, but I’m at a place I just can’t. I seriously can’t find the motivation. I get the bike and yoga once a week. I haven’t walked in a week.

Snacking. This has been recent but with the gloomy weather, I just hit a place where I’m like why not. Why not eat more chocolate. Why not have some pretzels even after I marked my fitness apps as done eating for the day? Why not only have one Diet Pepsi I wanted to wean off, but have two? Gah.

I’m one that when things are close to being done, I give up. The last week has been hard getting up to start a work and school schedule. Hard keeping the house picked up. Hard making meals. I am so sick of making dinner. We don’t even go out that much but somehow I feel my meal prep has tripled. I’m over it. I tend to be everyone else’s cheerleader but this week especially? I can’t even handle being my own.

I look at this and realize we all need to extend each other and ourselves grace. This is new for all of us, and we’re doing the best we can. I’m trying to keep that mindset with myself. I also think I’ll be reflecting on my attitude and choices as we return to public life. I want to act with compassion and faith. I want to be known as an encourager, not a judge.

Have you learned anything about yourself during this season? Feel free to comment or find me on social media @JulieArduini.

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