Mental Health Breaks are Ok to Take Ep. 26

Life is crazy right now. Mental health is something some people are talking about and others aren’t. I’m neither a psychologist nor a life coach nor any medical doctor but there’s a lot of people struggling with being home due to COVID and then if you are a woman of color then your life has been turned upside down right now.

I have been home with my kids since March 13. My husband started his quarantine on March 20. I am not an introvert. I like to network with other entrepreneurs, I like to see people and co-work. Zoom all the freaking time is not cutting it. I’m in a suburb of Chicago so everything is slowly starting to open up so things will start to get better but right now I needed to take a break.

Having to share my office with my husband for almost 4 months was a struggle. I like my space and my routine. Having to share my office with my husband was rough for me and it was rough for my husband. He was used to his routine at work. I was also not used to having to teach my child virtually to finish up the school year. Between a crying kindergartener because he didn’t want to sit and do work and a 3-year-old who felt the need say mom mom mom every 5 minutes plus the fact that I actually needed to work and coordinate my phone calls with my husband’s phone calls really wore me down. My mental state was up and down for the entire 4 months. I would have days where I would be super motivated and other days I just wanted to scream and take lots of naps.

We weren’t sending my kids anywhere for a while so that meant they couldn’t go to my parents house for a break. In essence it was 24/7 kids, quarantine and work. It was a lot more than I felt I could handle most days but I obviously did with a few tricks. If you are stuck and struggling right now take a mental health break.

We tried to go on at least one walk each day and sometimes two depending on what we had going on. My husband always took the dog for a walk in the morning but we would always try to take one at dinner and sometimes at lunch if everything was crazier than normal and we needed a break. The fresh air and sunshine really really helped. Get out as much as you can.
I did all the e-learning with my son so in the evenings my husband would keep the kids occupied for a bit so I could escape to our office or our bedroom and get a break. I would either watch TV, read, or just nap. If you have kids and need a break take a nap or go into another room.
I texted or talked to my best friend every day. We only complained about our kids driving us insane since we weren’t going anywhere or doing anything but it felt good to know someone else knew how I felt.
Zoom Zoom all day Zoom. I went on a lot of zoom networking calls. It’s not the same but it’s better than nothing. It felt good to talk to ladies and laugh and learn.
Time to myself after everyone went to bed. Even if I was tired I would stay up and chill out in my office. I would turn on the TV and either do a little work or just mess around online.

If you are struggling find someone to talk to, find something to do that gives you a break, connect with people. Do what you need to do to feel better. Get the help you need. We are dealing with a lot of tough issues in the world right now and you can absolutely get through it!