By now we should all be well aware of what we need to do and avoid doing to stay healthy. However, constantly checking headline news and social media during times like this can become an unhealthy addiction. As well as making it the focal point of our conversations and dwelling on how it is affecting our lives and the potential impact it could have. Control the controllable. Stress and fear negatively impact our immune system and worse our mental health. What we talk about we bring about. Remember our kids are watching how we react and behave. This WILL pass and we WILL get through this.
Let’s look at the opportunities, the blessings so many of us have right now. We are at home with children with so much free time. It is like it is the holidays minus the chaos, the house full of extended relatives, and the mess to clean up. Here are some suggestions on how to take advantage of this gift:
1. Connecting with each other
- Have electronic free windows of family time
- Play games
- Watch family videos from 5, 10, 20 years ago
- Show them what your childhood looked like
- Pull out the boxes of family photos and go through them
- Tell stories and laugh
- Make a family trivia game where everyone has to think of five questions to ask each other and see who knows the most
- Screw Small Talk & Have Big Talk
- Have family dinners every night
- Enjoy family Olympics, i.e. board games, ping pong, shooting pool, card games, 21 (basketball), etc.
2. Excellent personal/family exercises
- Create personal & professional goals 90 days, 1 year and 5 year
- Create a family credo with a vision statement, pillars and personal never & always
- Did I realize the potential I had inside of me today?
- Think of ways you help the less fortunate families even more affected by this crisis, i.e. donating essential supplies, etc.
3. Personal Development
- Read what you have been dying to read but didn’t have time
- Start/finish your book
- If you call someone, facetime them
- Get your best workouts in
- Improve your eating habits, you are in total control
- Make a list of people you care about that you never have time to reach out to and then text/call them (i.e. relatives, friends, friends from your childhood)
- Make a list of people who had an impact in your life, teachers, relatives, counselors, coaches, first boss and contact them, letting them know their impact on your life
- Watch inspirational videos, i.e. YouTube videos, TED Talks
- Listen to inspirational podcasts
What am I missing?
Let’s crowd source for personal best practices. Please share what you and your family are doing.
