Finding a new balance

While everyday life for many of us looks different than it did before, our commitments to our families’ physical and mental health, and happiness are still a top priority. This means adjusting daily school, work, and self-care routines to ensure that each of us and our families continue to be productive, active, and engaged while at home.

While visiting my brother recently and helping him kick-off this semester of remote learning with his 10-year-old and 17-year-old, I saw first-hand the difference a healthy work-life balance could make for families during this time.

Working together as a family, we realized that syncing everyone’s schedules gave the house a unified rhythm. We ate breakfast, exercised, and enjoyed time in the sun together every day. Periods of work were separated by self-care activities which helped us pace ourselves and recharge every few hours. The structured schedule helped everyone complete each day’s tasks and gave my niece and nephew the one on one support they needed to stay focused, positive, and energized. When they ate, I ate.

When they were working, I was working. When they were on a break, I would take a break with them, and though I normally would not go biking at 1pm, that was the time that worked best for the three of us. The other integral part of our productivity and self-care was having a workspace separate from the bedroom. It kept their personal space from being influenced by the stress of school and prevented them from feeling too relaxed during class.