New Routines

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last blog, part through a back injury and part through writer’s block. Who would have thought that baking for my husband’s birthday plus the children’s PE lesson would be so dangerous? That reminds me, I can now divulge the secrets we kept for my husband’s birthday, the day was a real success and “the third child”, as I affectionately call him, enjoyed all the surprises. The teen, pre-teen and I recreated a stylish cream tea, not an AirPod or hood up in sight. Everything was homemade and we seemed to eat most of the afternoon away. There was enough food to feed an army which was lucky since a couple of our friends and family walked past the end of our driveway with birthday wishes and they enjoyed some takeaway teatime treats which I left for them. The football pinata which spent hours making out of Amazon boxes (lucky I did some shopping!) was a fun way to end the afternoon, it was stuffed with sweets and chocolate – the best way to my husband’s heart! We ended with happy hour, a BBQ and Houseparty drinks with our friends. The day went by in a flash and it was a real highlight of the past few weeks for us all. I know this birthday will be one to remember, not only for being different to normal but just as fun.

After a week of feeling quite miserable, I decided to return to gentle exercise with Joe Wicks last week. It’s been a busy few days since my last blog, keeping up with recruitment, applications and creating a guide to help businesses with the future of combining remote and office working as well as virtual hiring. But it’s also been a week of true revelation. Sitting at my kitchen table early this morning, watching my husband, the penny dropped. We have created a routine as close as possible to our normal lives before lockdown. I was up early, I prepared dinner at 8am, I logged on and cleared emails, I organised a call with a candidate during a 20 second rest in PE, rushed to have a bite to eat for breakfast. The dashing, squeezing things into my day, it’s familiar and I like it! My husband has amazingly duplicated his commute into London but at home. Exercise comes first, then breakfast whilst reading his kindle, then a brief walk around the garden and into the office to start work. The only difference is no train journey. I know that I sat staring at him open mouthed this morning when I realised. I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to see it. I think the break from routine showed me how important it is in our household to have created some structure. I have also found that having my own time to think quietly is becoming increasingly vital. I am always very focused, especially with work, and I am lucky that the teen and pre-teen are diligent with their schoolwork. However, last Thursday we didn’t have a good morning, although my husband seemed unaffected, possibly because mentally he was tucked away in his office in London and, therefore, he could ignore the kids fighting in the background. The day started badly when the teenager decided that he had to talk over the whole of PE, just noise, for no reason. Both kids then decided to interrupt my work continuously, computers freezing, checking work, no more work to do, science experiments, wherever I moved in the house someone had to talk to me! But the final straw was when I was proof-reading a document; I was so close to finishing it. I could hear the teen and pre-teen arguing, loudly. I listened, I left them, the arguing became louder. I decided not to referee but to check that they were safe and tell them to come to an agreement. It was a petty squabble due to boredom.

I then proceeded to scribble in large capital letters on an A4 piece of paper:

MUMMY IS UNAVAILABLE FOR THE REST OF THE DAY! DO NOT DISTURB ME

And I took myself off to the loft, stuck it on the door, closed it behind me and took a breath before completing my work. So it is here, for the time being, that has become my office and my haven to concentrate.

The key to getting through this period for me has been to create a routine and to find some of my own space. I suspect most of us are creatures of habit, have you subconsciously or consciously created a similar routine at home to your pre-Covid one?