Time Flys?

Today marks the start of week number two of my corona-cation, and honestly it has been weird. The hardest part of going from having a jam packed, never stop moving, always on the go schedule, to no schedule is that there is so much time to work with that just didn’t exist before. We still have set bedtimes and try to stick to a normal-ish meal schedule, but other than that I find myself running out of things to pass the time that don’t revolve around staring at a screen.

What Does That Even Mean?

Alright let me unpack that last sentence, of course there are things to do to pass the time. The problem isn’t so much the lack of things to do, however the lack of rush to do the things that really is throwing me for a loop. Today alone we all snuggled in bed until about 8am, then lazily got our morning going, we ate breakfast, had coffee, did a quick work out, by noon we went for a walk, colored, played tunnels, and still had time to kill before nap. Having nothing but free time with very little obligations (I’m finishing up the semester online, but even still that’s very low on the time consuming scale) is both beautiful but also very boring at the same time.

The lack of having to be anywhere on time is amazing, I do love the fact our mornings and dinner times are less rushed, however structure and schedule are what I thrive on, and it really takes a toll come six o’clock every single night.

Getting to the Point

The above ramblings aside, this quarantine has got me thinking about what exactly time is, why productivity seems to sky rocket when we have unlimited time, and how can I replicate this level of calm and collected once the world eventually starts spinning again?

Time is a man made concept, and if you’re a parent you know that it marks a lot of different things. Whether it be your day to day schedule (nap time, bed time, wine time, etc.) or how much time your tiny human has been on this earth (six weeks, six months, six years) time is something you absolutely rely on in every aspect of  life.

Productivity and time are two very interesting friends, for me personally I always think I’m the most productive when it gets down to the wire, however that is the farthest thing from the truth and I’ll tell you why. This past week alone I’ve gotten done nearly every single project I wanted to, in less than half the time it would have normally taken me had I had normal obligations and a schedule to maintain. Why? I still had two kids to pay attention to and keep alive, household chores still remained, but the notion that I didn’t have a deadline, that there was no rush, that alone removed the stress of actually doing the task and the anxiety of potentially not finishing it. Without a concrete this needs to be done time, I was able to get it done faster and with zero stress crying (I’m very much a stress crier ask my husband) as opposed to if I tried to tackle it on a normal Saturday.

How do we keep this timeless vibe going when life returns to normal? One thing for sure is to try and just keep up the progress I’ve made this past week, the big stuff is accomplished now just to maintain the putting away of things and wiping down surfaces on the daily.

Another thing to keep the stress free vibe rolling is to prioritize time with the family, if anything that alone has made a world of difference in the energy of our home. When things are normal and hectic, the terrible twos come out in full swing as our oldest is fighting all the outside forces for our attention. After a few days of being able to connect on a one on one level for what feels like forever (in a good way!) has turned his behavior around and brought our happy little guy back.

When It Ends.

When this pandemic is over it will be interesting to see if life resumes its bat out of hell speed or if as a whole we realize the importance of slowing down and making the most of our time. I know personally, I miss my friends and co-workers dearly, but social distancing has really been nothing but a positive experience so far, spending quality time with my family, as well as taking time for myself, is a gift that the pandemic unknowingly gave me.

When it ends I hope that time doesn’t start to fly again leaving our lives zooming past us, rather I hope it saunters threw a field of dandelions on a warm spring day, taking a minute or two to take it all in and enjoy just how nice the day is.