Quarantine life

Life has changed for everyone across the world and I hope all of you are finding ways to keep yourself sane, safe and healthy. There is still so much happening in our life and I am learning to live by every moment. I want to jot down my list as categories

Blessings list:

• Family is safe and healthy.
• M returned from India just few days before the lockdown started. I just couldn’t get my head around the what-ifs of “if he got stuck in India”.
• All of us are able to move forward with our work/school with minuscule impact.
• All the quality time and random lighter moments with family.
• Impromptu family quick lunch time on kitchen table on days we all could take a 30 minute break from work.
• LHB’s random melting talks like “Will you be a dear and get me a glass of water?” or “Mother dearest, another Dosa please”. I am sure we have missed living through these moments in the old normal busy life.
• Access to food, coffee and of course desserts.
• Family Indian regional movie nights on Friday and Saturday. We explore Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu and all other regional movies.
• Extra sleep time in the morning (this should be on top of my list).
• No rush bedtime routine (I have started story telling session about Tenali Raman/Akbar-Birbal and we play one board game on most nights).
• LHB workout routine by dancing mindlessly for Tamil peppy songs and the rest of us sitting around him and laughing hysterically.
• Kids doing workout as a punishment whenever they use improper words. 20 squats if they say “you are a butt”, 20 jumping jacks or burpees are other workouts.
• Being able to carryout with most of the work that we used to do in old normal life.
• More bonding time with family.
• Not holding on to grudges/skirmishes for a prolonged time. Trying to take one day at a time and look at every day as a new day of opportunity.
• Weekends mostly start with a family conversation on brunch table with hot just off the stove fresh food.

Whine list:

• Forcibly becoming a first grade teacher. I dread the study sessions with LHB. He brings the worst out of me and I feel like a terrible parent at the end of every session.
• Not being able to listen to music (the only time I listen to music is during my commute. No commute, No music).
• Using Milk like gold.
• No break from cooking/ever day cooking (it is physically tiring but I enjoy the after moment when family enjoys the meal as meals are mostly prepared based on family members suggestion)

Things I am doing during quarantine time that would have been distant dream otherwise:

• I start my day with Meditation and Surya namaskar at least 5 times a week.
• Take workout seriously. Burn the calories either in elliptical or by following a random HIIT workout video at least 3 times a week.
• Be mindful about the choices made with handling kids (getting better at Respond vs React).
• Read a book (finally!!!)
• Active in Instagram (Only food pictures. It will come in handy when the family accuses me of not cooking. You can find me as “anikrish”).
• Volunteering opportunities. Being part of Mask making project and making a difference in the community.
• Weekend video call with parents where kids bond with them. I always want to do this but could never get to it due to lack of time and running around hectic weekend schedules.
• Drink two full bottle of hot lemon infused water throughout the day.

As you see, my whine list looks meagre compared to blessings list so I make it a point to stay positive and count my blessings every single day. That could be one of the reason why I am working on the art of “let go” more than before. It gives me jitters when I think of all families who are impacted first hand during this unprecedented time.

My typical quarantine work day:

7:30am – Wake up
7:30-9am – Morning home duties (Meditation, Surya namaskar, cooking)
9am-5pm – Work, work, work with little breaks. These days I am mostly on video calls all day so have to be presentable too (that means a decent shirt with PJ pants) !! I found a way to setup a budget standing desk with package boxes to alleviate the back pain.
5-7pm – Dinner/cooking/cleaning time.
7pm-10pm – LHB’s study time (If my stars align then he will manage to finish them by 9:30pm so we can play a bedtime board game)
10-11pm – Bedtime routine (story time, game time and then eventually crash time)

My weekdays are passing by like a flash and weekends get over before I could blink my eyes.

Ani’s nest is kind of getting very comfortable with this setup that its going to be a very hard transition for us to get back to old normal life.

Looking forward to hear from all of you my readers. Just tell me all is well on your end and send some love.

 

 

 

 

 

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