Self-Evaluating During COVID-19
Hi all!
In case you haven’t heard, today is May 1, 2020. For real. Like April came and went and now it’s May!
Are the days blending together for anyone else? I used to relay on my school-aged kids to tell me what day of the week it was, but now they’re in my same boat at home and they barely know either! Lucky for us there are enough devices around to remind us where we are on the calendar.
We had a successful week of school, exercise, and working in the garden I think due to a great planning session on Sunday.
On Sundays, since there are no gatherings at our church building, we do an at-home church. It’s been adorable to have the kids take the lead on teaching us some things and having a moment to sing songs together, pray, and chat about how we’re all doing.
This last Sunday, we added in an awesome, weekly planning session and I had the kids fill out the “My COVID-19 Experience” form for kids from my previous blog. We even helped our 3-year-old fill it out—adorable and insightful. We discussed their thoughts and feelings.
Like many of us, the kids are feeling a bit of every emotion. Literally, if you look at that form, there are different emoji’s to describe how they feel and the kids circled all of them (crying, sad, bored, happy, ecstatic, etc.).
I get it. One moment we’re having so much fun together as a family and in that same moment I feel sad that I don’t get to see my friends at the gym or that my kids are missing out on their school year.
I love that episode of Daniel Tiger (PBS parents, where you at?!) when they teach that sometimes you feel two feelings at the same time. It’s possible and it happens to us all the time!
There is so much illness and fear around the world right now, yet we also get this concentrated amount of time with our families and with ourselves.
We can check in with our emotions frequently to evaluate if they’re in balance and if we’re able to still connect and get in touch with what we feel. From there, we can make adjustments if need be or keep doing what we’re doing. There’s always room for improvement and growth.
How do we even do that? How do we “check in?” How do we identify and sort all of those feelings?
Everyone does this in a different way. I love to sit and check in during exercise, during prayer, meditation, and during conversations with my husband and friends.
Some of those habits changed when our routines changed a few weeks ago, so it’s important that I evaluate to make sure I’m still making time to exercise, pray, meditate, and chat since I know those are powerful ways for me to process.
I am a huge fan of forms and evaluations. They take a snap shot of what’s going on and help us to think differently. When we think differently, we keep ourselves from falling into a rut or becoming complacent.
After the huge response to the Kid’s COVID-19 self-evaluation download, I decided to make an evaluation for teens and adults!
This form is a great place to tune in to your health.
Remember to put your mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health as a priority and check in with yourself often.
Our routines might look different during quarantine, but we can still balance our well-being. If you’re needing help feeling balanced, try a one-on-one session with me sometime. I’d love to chat.
I hope you’re all doing well. Enjoy the download below.
-Whitney
