Just me being me - Pocketful of Joules

Life Update: New Normal

I haven’t given a Life Update since April when we were still at the beginning of this Stay at Home order thing. Back then, I was working from home full-time and Jack was also home full-time doing online schooling. Juggling both my work and Jack’s school was hard and exhausting, so when Jack finally had his last day of second grade on June 11^th… it was absolutely cause for celebration!

So, what has life been like since then?

Much, much easier.

Sure, we are still at home. And we are still keeping mostly to essential trips when we leave the house. I’ve been working from home Monday – Friday since early March, so it’s been about 6 months straight of teleworking.

We wear our masks if we go anywhere inside, we have gotten together with family members a few times for outside socially-distanced picnics. I’m still cooking dinners Monday – Friday and we order takeout on the weekend to give me a break.

However, the biggest change is… camp.

Maryland is currently in Stage Two of our reopening, which means that outdoor summer camps are open. And I am sooo thankful for that! The company running the camp has also been running essential childcare options, so they are doing a great job with keeping everyone as safe as possible. It’s entirely outdoors, there are temperature checks each morning, screening questions to answer on a daily basis, masks worn when everyone is closer than 6 feet, and social distancing as much as possible.

But the best part is that Jack is finally getting out of the house. With me juggling working from home while also momming at the same time, he wasn’t getting enough attention and he was also getting bored. His attitude was terrible… he was reacting with a combination of acting out with temper tantrums and also being super clingy when I did leave the house for a super exciting grocery run.

Once camp started, it was like a light switch flicked and he want back to his normal self. By getting out of the house and spending time with other people and other kids, he is emotionally stimulated all day long. It is so nice to have him come home tired and sweaty from running around outside all day. And it is a heck of a lot easier for me to get my work done when I’m home alone.

We still don’t know what’s happening with school this fall – it looks like our school system will either be going to a fully online option or a hybrid option. That alone is a massive cause for anxiety for me, because I will have to go back into the office at some point. I can only hope my employer continues to be accommodating and supportive as we all attempt to deal with the ‘new normal’ of living through a pandemic.

But for now… we’re good. Everyone is healthy. Travis is still working. I’m still working. Jack’s enjoying camp. I even had a socially distanced weekend at my bestie’s house. AND we have some Maryland-based beach plans coming up in August to look forward to!

This Year Has Gone to Crap, So I’m Starting Over

I’m one of those people who really, really, really likes it when my calendar is all neat and pretty. You know, green highlighted stuff for kid activities. Orange highlighted blocks for vacation days. Meetings, calls and plans all nicely written. Maybe a *little* bit of white out strips, because nobody is perfect. My handwriting certainly looks neater on the January pages than when you turn to later in the year.

When I started my new job in June 2019, one of the things that made me really feel like I was leaving my old one was my new planner. Instead of having old work meetings and deadlines scratched out, I had a FRESH planner that was devoted to my new life.

It’s magical.

You know what’s not magical? My 2020 planner. It’s a dang mess. Starting in March it is full of scratched out plans, scribbled out vacations that we had to cancel, and weeks and weeks where I’ve written “SCHOOL CLOSED – JACK AT HOME!” in increasingly frantic writing.

My office has been setting schedules every two weeks. So, every other Friday, I add more scribbles to my calendar blocks. In-person meetings are scratched out. Telework is written in. I have a whole section keeping track of doctor appointments that need to be rescheduled after coronavirus.

While I can’t control when the pandemic will pass, or if school will even start in the fall… there is one thing I can control. And that is me starting over.

I went out and bought myself a BRAND NEW CLEAN AND SHINY planner. For just $25, I get to start August 2020 with a clean slate. I don’t have to look at cancelled vacations, or work events that have moved and moved again. I get to start fresh. After 5 months of this pandemic, I get to determine my new normal and it gets to be PRETTY again. Because it makes me feel good.

One of my favorite parts of the new planner I picked is that it has quotes on most of the pages.

Your voice can change the world.
Barack Obama

If you’re lucky enough to be different, don’t ever change.
Taylor Swift

When you undervalue what you do, the world will undervalue who you are.
Oprah Winfrey

Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.
Maya Angelou

I’ve already gone through and added important stuff to my new calendar. There are even customizable habit tracker pages for each month, so I can try to stick with monthly goals like drinking more water, avoiding soda, and taking a daily walk. Rather than focus on the negative aspects of the last 6 months, I’m taking a breath and looking forward to how I want to live.

Oh, and you can find my fancy new planner here on Amazon. You know, in case you need a fresh start too.

Disclaimer: This post contains an Amazon affiliate link. This means that clicking on a link may help me earn a small commission at no cost to you.

I’m Curious: Are you going back to the gym?

Source: Photo by Danielle Cerullo on Unsplash

With Maryland’s coronavirus numbers slowly decreasing, most of the state has fully moved into the second tier of the reopening plan. This means that fitness centers and gyms are allowed to reopen at a limited capacity. Our gym has been closed since March and fees have been frozen since April, so this means we would be able to start going to the gym this month and would pay our monthly fee again July 1^st.

We are still in the middle of a pandemic, so they have made some changes. Members must wear a face mask upon entering and exiting the club. Members are encouraged to wear face coverings while exercising “if able to do so safely” or should increase the distance between themselves and others. Staff members will wear face coverings. They encourage members to wipe down their machines and weights before they use them. They are limiting the number of people who do group fitness classes so that the rooms are less full.

But here’s the thing; those small changes… yeah, they are not enough for me.

I just can’t imagine feeling comfortable going to the gym and hopping on a machine near/around some stranger who is huffing and puffing and sweating their potential virus germs all over the place.

And sure, maybe I can go to a machine without many people around. But what about when I’m in the middle of my workout and someone comes and starts working out near me. Huffing. Puffing. Sweating. We all deal with this normally, but with the coronavirus still out there killing people… NOPE.

We have been on a Stay at Home order for months now. We are STILL in the middle of a pandemic. States who have rushed their reopening plan are currently reporting record high numbers of coronavirus.

I DO NOT feel comfortable going to a gym right now.

However, when I look at the gym’s Facebook page the comments are full of people saying how they can’t wait to come back. There is person after person commenting about how happy they are that the gym is FINALLY open again.

And now I want to hear from you… are you comfortable with going back to the gym?