Stay at Home Pros List

Written April 9, 2020

We are getting to the point where this Stay at Home order is getting old.   I’m sure if you are reading this and are not under a Stay at Home order, the Pandemic is still affecting things enough for you to relate to this.   I know this is rough on everyone because Andy and I are in a better situation than many people and we are still starting to struggle more with this.  So what do we do?

We can’t change that there is a pandemic and we can’t open what is closed.   You can’t remove a Stay at Home order. But there may be small things you can change in your personal life, like getting some alone time if you are not the only adult in the house.  If you are working from home, you may be able to adjust your schedule or your office setup to see if that helps.   If you are getting lonely because you live on your own (or feel lonely in a house with other people), you can reach out to people through video chat and other contact methods.  And you can throw yourself a pity party if you need to process and grieve for a bit.  Just don’t stay too long and don’t be afraid to seek help if this is affecting you at a deeper level.

What about the big issues we can’t do anything with?  When you have a choice in a situation, I like Pros and Cons lists, but there is no reason to write a Cons list for situations you cannot change.  You already know the negatives. When things are out of your control, I recommend making a Pros list. Identify parts of this situation that are actually positively impacting your life.  You are not ignoring the bad parts of a situation by doing this, but you are finding a healthier way to cope.   Below is my Pros list and I hope there are items on it that inspire you in finding your own Pros.

1. I have a job – this one is a little ironic because I have been trying for months to find a part time job instead of the full time one I have.  But I am thankful I still have an income where I can work from home instead of being exposed to all the germs.
2. I have more time with Hannah, Andy and Nova (my dog) – we are busy working most of the week, but we are still getting more time together than we normally do.   Andy and I were used to working together so this is more of a positive for us than some people.  We enjoyed getting to walk on breaks and eat lunch together when we worked together so we are happy to have that back for a season.  Also, I’ve been working hard to get more time with Hannah, so this is a nice bonus until I can work something out to get more time with her in the normal world.
3. The weather has been unusually nice for early Spring in Ohio – Ohio’s weather is a rollercoaster. The end of March and beginning of April are usually still cold enough to snow, but we’ve had many beautiful Spring days this year.  This is the weather you want when one of the only things you can do is walk around a park or your neighborhood.
4. My home work environment is better for me than the office– I have noticed a shift in my mood now that I am not in my dreary office without any natural light.   I am very affected by having a lack of natural light and I can control the lighting more at my house.
5. We are saving money – we are still eating out and we are buying quite a bit of groceries, but we are not eating out as much as we were and we are saving quite a bit of money on gas.   Not only are we not buying as much gas, but it has been under $2.00 a gallon. I remember it was $4.00 a gallon when I was in college!
6. We have more time to get things done around the house – we are working so we don’t have time to do everything we want, but we do have a little more time on the weekends to clean and work on house projects.  Andy and I both feel more relaxed when our house is cleaner and more organized.
7. I get to teach Hannah more new things – I love to teach people and teaching my daughter is even better.   I normally only see her during the daytime hours 2 days a week and trying to teach her when she is tired in the evening isn’t a great idea.   I’ve been enjoying the random times of teaching her things.  I also enjoy hearing her pick up so many new words from listening to us yap.

I hope this list inspires some ideas for your own list.   I want to wrap up by saying that sometimes I can keep up this positive attitude during this time, but I struggle at other times.   Allow yourself to feel how you need to feel and give yourself more grace than usual.   I hope making a list like this one can help shine some light on the harder days.