As a teacher and a parent myself, being on the front end of home education has been quite the transition. For the last few weeks, I have watched parents ‘falling apart’ because the work was just too much to deal with.
There’s the parents who got their act together with the daily schedules and ‘by-the-minute’ assigned activities. And, of course, there’s the parents who threw up their hands in surrender and did nothing.
I want to say to each and every one of those parents: I am proud of you! Each one of you has had to make a hasty decision that would best suit your family dynamic or even just you (moms!).
Personally, when this all began, I was stressed, overwhelmed, and, honestly, straight up scared. So I froze. I didn’t know what to do. I tried stress eating, drinking Bailey’s in my coffee, TV watching, spending twelve hours sleeping, exercising, and so on and so forth. My mind went on overdrive trying to control the uncontrollable and simply ‘fix’ whatever was wrong with everyone in my house.
Lucky for me, I am surrounded by wise people who taught me to allow myself to just be and feel my feelings. They allowed me to be scared, be overwhelmed, be imperfect, be lazy. They allowed me to just be in the moment and breathe without trying to deny the feelings, change the way I need to feel, or force me to act the way I am ‘supposed to.’ Because of those I am surrounded by, I was able to allow myself to freeze, take pause, and breathe.
It has been a month now and I am starting to feel like I am getting back to a routine. I can create again. I can function. I can just be. And I am proud of myself for it! And you should be proud of yourself as well. You are doing the best you can in such unknown territory and allowing yourself to be.
I am proud of you. You got this.
If you have a schedule – I am proud of you for getting organized.
If you don’t – I am proud of you because I know that you are doing the best you can.
If you are scared – I am proud of you for recognizing that feeling and allowing it to come.
If you are enjoying this time – I am proud of you because you were able to find your zen in such a hectic time.
If you are not enjoying this time – I am proud of you because you are human and you are doing the best you can.
Whatever you do and however you feel – I am so proud of you, wishing to give you comfort and hope in a scary time.
I am proud of you.