During this time, more than ever, people are at home, indoors, working together, homeschooling, social distancing, etc. I don’t know about you, but I find myself bored and irritable at times...with everything. Friends, family, my cat, myself, life...everything. Without intention, all the quantity can decrease the quality of interactions. Being a nerd who is experimenting with how to navigate this still-new reality, and practicing what I preach has been interesting to say the least.
One thing I've been mindful of lately is being intentional with finding your on/off switch. Basically, when there is so much quantity of time in quarantine, we need to be intentional about spending quality time together and intentional about having boundaries and breaks and space as well.
With relationships, this can look like keeping a date night or special time to prepare meals or other rituals AND taking solo walks, or engaging in exercise or hobbies or listening to podcasts or music with the headphones on to create some space for longing, romance, and specialness. With kids, it can look like special playtime or story time AND tag teaming with your partner or capitalizing on nap time or letting the kids have a little extra screen time so you can intentionally take a break and return with your energy and ability to be engaged. With yourself it can look like journaling or doing art or meditating or a walk in nature to connect to yourself AND letting yourself mindlessly watch TV or take a nap or turn off your phone to disconnect and take a break from the stresses of life.
The more we are mindful of finding opportunities to turn off, we can shine more bright when we are back on.