I don’t think there’s such a thing as “winning” at quarantine life. My goal every day is simple: stay grateful, present and in alignment. I’ve had many ups and downs, and during a particularly rough week, I asked some friends for tips on what’s working well for them. This schedule is a result of great advice mixed with what works for my family and me.
***This post may contain affiliate links. As a Sakara and Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This is at no cost to you but helps me run my website.***
A Typical Weekday in Quarantine
- 6:30am (give or take) – I wake up naturally and head into the bathroom where I meditate and get ready for the day. If I’m up at 6:30am or earlier, this includes my daily workout, 20-30 minutes of low impact movement.
- 7:30am – I let the dog out, feed him breakfast, pick up after him and start the kids’ breakfast.
- 8am – Steven comes downstairs to finish up with the kids’ breakfast, and I go work out if I haven’t already.
- 8:30am – I have breakfast and coffee, then clean up the kitchen. I quickly check my phone for the first time in case there’s anything requiring my immediate attention.
- 9am – I take my son for a long walk while Steven starts our daughter’s homeschooling.
- 10am – My son does an educational app on the iPad independently, our daughter continues with schoolwork, and I tackle some work while helping my daughter.
- 11am – I do an activity with our son, usually baking.
- 12pm – I make the kids lunch. Then they have recess. After I have lunch, I get back to work either outside or facing the window to keep an eye on the kids.
- 1pm – My son gets more iPad time with an educational app. If our daughter finished her schoolwork, she does the same. I continue to work.
- 2pm – I offer to do an activity with the kids, such as a puzzle or yoga.
- 3pm – We allow the kids to have a dry snack (such as nuts and dried mango) while playing in their rooms. This is a huge hit because pre-quarantine they rarely got to eat away from the table. I try to squeeze in a walk if Steven’s schedule will allow, either around this time and/or right after lunch, for a change of scenery and to clear my head.
- 4pm – The kids do their chores. This consists of cleaning their rooms, making their beds, and tidying up any mess they made in or around the house. I may give them one or two other things to do around the house as well. I get back to work, only stopping to do “house inspection”.
- 4:30pm – The kids watch tv while I finish up any projects for the day.
- 5pm – I feed the dog his dinner and begin making dinner for the humans.
- 6pm – Dinner
- 7pm – Kids’ bedtime, hopefully done by 7:30pm but more realistically…
- 8pm – Adult time, which only sometimes means Steven and I get to hang out. Sometimes it means folding laundry or finishing other household work. A lot of times it means catching up on work I couldn’t get to during the day.
- 9:30pm – We take the dog out, put him to bed and then get ourselves ready for bed.
- 10pm – Adult bedtime
The reason why this works so well for me is I build in meditation and movement at the beginning of my day. This sets me up in a good headspace for the rest of the day, and I genuinely look forward to waking up every single day because of this.
Letting Go of “Perfection”
Building in technology-time throughout the day for our 4 year old has been a huge game changer. I used to try to get through as much of the day as possible before allowing any kind of screen time, but I was so cranky and irritable by the late afternoon. By allowing it throughout the day, I am much more focused during the times I’m working or with the kids.
Everything in the schedule is approximate and more of a general guideline for my day. I might have a meeting or call, so we have to switch things around. Or if the weather is nice, the kids might be playing outside instead of in front of a screen or have a longgg recess, which is fine by me! I like the structure but also feel it’s important to let go of too many expectations. Therapy and an occasional glass of wine don’t hurt either! 😉