Creating a New Normal Through Major Change

Coronavirus has changed life as we know it. We are now in an era of social distancing in an effort to prevent the spread of this potentially deadly virus and flatten the curve. Many U.S. states have declared a “shelter in place” order which means we must stay in our homes with the exception to go out only for essential errands: groceries, food, doctor appointments, childcare, banks, gas, or any jobs that provide an essential service.

Some people have been fortunate enough to be able to work from home. Many people are not able to work, or have been laid off. On top of that, schools are closed, some for a few weeks, and some are closed for the remainder of the school year. Families have to make major adjustments to their daily routine and way of life.

Developing Your New Routine

One of the best ways to handle major change is to get a grip on what we actually have the power to control. We can’t control what will happen as a result of this pandemic, but we can do our part to prevent the spread of this virus and control our own environment. To whatever extent possible, we can develop a new routine that reflects what we value most.

Now that we are all stuck at home, we might find ourselves restless or bored. It’s funny, I can recall always having SO MANY great ideas for what I would be doing if I was home when I was stuck at work, only to forget many of those ideas when I got home, where I’d end up wasting time on mindless pursuits.

On the flip-side, we may find ourselves overstressed and overwhelmed while trying to handle this new reality. There are so many unknowns as we move through this unprecedented time.

We can start to fix these problems by creating a list. Write down everything that comes to mind when thinking of all the responsibilities you have, and the different ways that you can spend your time. Highlight or underline areas that are priorities. You can get decorative and fancy with this list, or keep it quick and easy. The point is to brain-dump all your ideas and then pull out the ones that are critical and mean the most to you.

I like to make categories and subcategories to help me mentally organize everything and ensure I am including a variety of areas of my own life.

For example, here is my list:

• Family Time:
  • home dates (weekly)
  • coffee & meals together (daily)
  • phone call/ FaceTime relatives that are far away (weekly)
• Career & Income:
  • Work from Home (daily-weekdays)
    • connect with students & prepare home school assignments
    • professional development
  • Side Business:
    • develop new crochet patterns
    • create blog posts (~1x a week)
    • connect on social media
• Self-Care:
  • exercise (3-4x week)
    • walk
    • yoga
    • circuit
  • reading (weekly)
  • podcasts (daily)
  • take bath
• Hobbies:
  • learn how to knit socks
  • finish knitting sweaters
    • Cozy Classic Raglan
    • Flax Sweater
  • repair knit sweater that Gojira (my cat) ripped 🙁
• Home:
  • maintain supply groceries and essentials (weekly)
    • reduce our rate of consumption (daily)
  • laundry (weekly)
  • disinfecting (daily)
  • spring cleaning
    • Marie Kondo the place (go through & bag up clothes and items to get rid of) (monthly)
• Free Time:
  • movies
  • shows
  • relaxation (daily)
  • learn how to use Tik Tok (LOL)

After creating your own list, you can make a note of the frequency next to areas that you want to add to your routine: daily, weekly, monthly, etc. Then plug everything that you want to add from your list into your weekly schedule, but make sure to add your priorities in first before anything else. Then build in the other items where they will fit.

Of course if you live with others, it is ideal to collaborate on your schedule and make sure it works for all involved. Sometimes we need to compromise and do what is best for the group.

It is also important that self-care activities are included in your routine, as much as you can. Mental health should be a priority for everyone, especially during difficult and uncertain times.

Here’s what our home’s shelter in place routine is currently looking like:

Monday- Friday

6:30 am: wake up, coffee & breakfast with my partner

7:30 am -12:30(ish) pm: work from home (essentials/groceries run as needed 1x per week)

12:30-1:00(ish) pm: cook & eat lunch with partner

1:00-4:00(ish) pm: work from home

4:00-5:00 pm: exercise/self-care of choice

5:00-6:00 pm: cook dinner & eat with partner

6:00-9:30 pm: family time/hobbies/self-care activities

Saturday & Sunday:

We like to keep the weekends more open and flexible. My partner tends to dislike having a schedule, so when it is the weekend, we try to drop the schedule and go with the flow more. I usually like to spend time on projects for my side business & home tasks like cleaning & laundry, but I am not tied to anything in particular. This is an area that I had to learn to compromise on. We just make sure to add in our “home-date” which gives us an opportunity to be creativite, and it is something that we look forward to.

Change is Constant

This way of building a new routine ensures that your time is spent in a way that is fulfilling and meaningful to you. It can be a terrible feeling to think we have wasted our own time.

Focus on your necessities and priorities, and adjust when needed.

One thing that is constant is change. We have to do our best to be flexible in our expectations for how things will play out, and be mindful of what matters to us most. We don’t know what comes next, but with this strategy we can adapt.

With a priority-based routine we can create a new normal and get through these major changes, one day at a time. I hope that hearing about this technique will help you just as much as it has helped us.