Lockdown

 I felt relieved when the lockdown was announced. Schools, like many other places, didn't seem safe to me. But yes, more work for me...

One way, it feels oddly familiar. We have a box with papers, pencils, pens, erasers and all the other things, we know how to link to various sites used by school, understand how to work with them. School is much more organised, ready to get going from day three of the term - having spent day one preparing for the return of children and day two figuring out how to do distance learning and who is attending...

But I am smarter, too. Noticing how well the habit of early morning practise made me feel during the Christmas period, I have decided to carry on with it. Instead of slow mornings, I try to get up before anyone else and have a practise before switching on the computer and finding the day's work. It does wonders. I feel good and I don't have a nagging thought about practise at the back of my head while dealing with other things.

Second thing, I try to listen to a relaxation track or a yoga nidra every evening before bed. It isn't a fully relaxed session, dear child decided to move husband to the child's room and sleeps permanently in my bed. At the moment, I tend to nod off before or alongside the child. Therefore my relaxing moment coincides with the last burst of energy stored specifically for bedtime. But I figured out that husband and child get used to the fact that I am unresponsive around 8 p.m. And a background noise is surely all about practise and focus improvement, isn't it?

Since I do the night snoring, kicking, toilet trips and early morning chats, husband can do the bedtime story while I listen to mine. I may be onto something, I wake up feeling more rested.

I don't do resolutions, January is fairly normal month for me. There is no need to push myself or to try and change everything. But building a habit of taking time for myself without feeling bad about it is surely a good one to choose if you wish to make a resolution? Or just go and do it, whatever time of the year it is. Without planning, this is happening. In a way it is good to be dropped into lockdown with few hours notice. It would have helped the schools to know about it sooner, but as a parent, I managed to simply apply these little steps without planning and overthinking them and being worried about not managing to keep it up. It is a day at a time mode here at home, but every day counts. As long as we stay healthy.