I was talking to my mom on the phone last night telling her about how I haven’t felt like writing much these last few weeks (months). It’s been a difficult year. I’m a pretty private person which is why you didn’t see anything on Facebook about my husband being sick for weeks in the hospital. She said I didn’t need to apologize. 🙂

Yesterday I woke up and for the first time in weeks I felt like I could sit down and write a blog post.

The interesting thing about this self isolation / social distancing thing for me has been that I’ve kind wished for a long time we could just have a reset button. These last few months had been crazy. In fact, from the end of November until March we weren’t home in our house more than a total of a week.

First there was the Nutcracker performances, then trips to visit family in Florida and then family in Georgia. Then ministry conferences to attend and pastor’s meetings. Then we went to Florida for two weeks for the birth of my grandson. And then there were the 3 1/2 week hospital stays (2 1/2 hours from home) where my husband came pretty close to dying.

I’ll tell you I was exhausted, stressed out, and ready for a break. My house needed cleaning. We still had our Christmas stuff up in the middle of March.

Despite the disappointments of special events being canceled, I’ve kind of relished the whole being at home thing.

We’ve always been homeschoolers. So that part of our day hasn’t changed. But some things have changed.

• Like we don’t get up at 4 or 5 am. I get to sleep in.
• We stay up late and watch movies several times a week. Something we rarely did.
• We’ve been cleaning and organizing and decluttering.
• All the Christmas stuff is put away.
• We sit and talk. There’s no rush.
• We take walks.
• We take naps.
• We play with the cats.
• We find new recipes to try and then go make them.
• We cook and bake and make a mess in the kitchen.
• The girls have been helping me put in a small garden. And they like helping me.
• We sit at the table or on the bed and listen to online church each week.

It’s been kinda nice.

Reset Button: Rhythms and Rest

Here in Kentucky – and probably where you live – life has kind of been put on hold. Everything except essential businesses are closed – including all the parks. We take walks, but there’s really no where to go.

It’s the perfect time to take a look at your current routines and habits and see what need to be “reset.”

Routine Chores Become Habit

The reason routines work so well is because routines make your life easier. Chores and household tasks become second nature. Or, in other words, they become a habit.

When you create a chore routine, you’ll find that chores are much easier to get done each day. For example, if you decide to wash a load of laundry each morning you won’t have to spend an entire day catching up on washing the laundry. Also, doing the laundry won’t really seem like work because there’s only one load to do each day. Okay, maybe that’s not quite true, but you get the idea!

Your chores will eventually become a habit and you no longer need to think about what to do next.

You Always Know What to Expect

When you have a routine, you always know what you need to do next. You don’t need to wonder if you should clean the bathroom or if you should spend time on something else. Having a morning routine means that you have a set of activities that you do in order each day.

Having a cleaning routine would mean that you have decided which household chores need to be done and when you will do them. Some women like to focus on one room each day of the week to deep clean and organize. Others prefer to have a different chore they focus on each day of the week.

However you decide to set up routines, think practically about your lifestyle and what makes the most sense for you on a daily basis. Knowing what you need to do and when you need to do it really help alleviate your stress. Plus, when you are routinely cleaning the bathroom it never gets really gross. And that’s a good thing!

You’re More Productive

When you stop wondering what you’re going to do next, you’re able to get so much more done each day. You spend less time on tasks because they are being regularly attended to. Floors that are mopped regularly usually require less scrubbing. A kitchen that is tidied throughout the day and every evening before bed is easier to keep clean. A refrigerator that is cleaned out each week on schedule is less likely to be filled with rotten food and dried spills which means less work overall.

Having a routine gives your day purpose, helps you work less, and gives you peace of mind.