IMAGINE:  A typical day in the life of a family of four, with two young kids aged 2 and 4 where both parents are now working from home and taking care of their children at the same time during Corona.

No daycare, no babysitters, no grandparents, no extended family, no playgrounds, no zoos, no museums, no playdates, nothing but the two of you (if you are lucky enough to have a partner) and the little darlings.

If this looks similar to your current reality and just reading this makes you anxious, know there is hope.

THE GOOD NEWS:   This too shall pass and you will prevail. Take a deep breath and know that even though your life right now feels legit crazy, you are not crazy, you can manage this and adapt to create a new routine and even (gasp) get things done!

Here are some tips we recommend to keep your sanity while getting things done and feel more at peace with yourself:

Wake up earlier, think 5 AM early, to make sure you have at least 30 minutes to 1 hour for yourself to set the intention for the day.

Take the time to do some breathing exercises, meditate, stretch, and do some yoga moves to get anchored in your body and mind.

Write your fears, expectations, and hopes for the day in your journal and do a “release” ceremony, affirming this to yourself:

” I am going to show up as a balanced and loving parent that navigates the chaos of daily life and the constant demands for my time and attention with grace and ease, I am going to give myself grace when I make mistakes, I can easily adapt and get better next time. I am going to do my best to parent and work during these challenging times, I am guilt-free and allow myself to flow freely with the events as they arise.”

 

To set yourself up for success it’s important to not raise the bar unrealistically high and expect to get things done as you used to before the quarantine or even more so. Now it’s not the time to add additional stress to your life by wanting to overachieve.

If you have the flexibility to schedule your important work-tasks during odd hours in the early morning, say 6 am-8 am or late evening 9 pm-12 pm do that, otherwise don’t expect to get many uninterrupted chunks of work during the day.

For most parents, 3-4 hours a day is doable if you account for early mornings, nap time, and late evenings but hoping for 8 hours uninterrupted work is a sure way to feel defeated and discouraged at the end of every day.

Only work on major projects that absolutely need to get done and put the rest on the side. If there is something urgent and important do that first otherwise only work on important things and leave the projects that are secondary for some other time.

Don’t feel guilty if you drop a few balls, postpone some tasks, and upset some people in the process. After all, you are doing your best in these extraordinary circumstances and if you don’t extend yourself grace no one will.

If you and your spouse are able to be flexible around your work-schedules, it’s best to designate a certain parent as the “on duty” one during certain times of the day so that the other parent can focus on work relatively stress-free.

Taking a look together at the workweek and dividing it according to each of your priorities and preferences, ensures you have a fair work-life battlefield, where both of you feel empowered and confident in your professional and parental roles.

Be prepared to be flexible though and follow the schedule as best as you can without throwing everything to the side if things don’t turn out as planned. It’s important to keep your intention in mind and recommit to the schedule once things calm down.

Reframe the way you see productive work as focused, uninterrupted time, and work on your ability to refocus your attention to the task at hand, regardless how many times you are being interrupted.

Embrace the idea of doing small increments of work rather than hours and hours of progress and in time you will be able to quickly refocus your attention to your task even when you are constantly being interrupted.

We’d love to know what are your best tips for staying sane in these challenging times.

Let us know in the comments below!