We both woke up having sore throat this morning. Fortunately, our son seems to be doing much better today. No fever. Just some crankiness. He took a nice 3 hour nap mid-day.
For us, it feels like the productivity started to go down because we’re just tired. The world doesn’t seem to be much better - lots of depressing news.
My learning/realization today:
1. Trust your coworkers to cover for you. Also try your best to be creative.
I had a meeting in the morning at 10 that I couldn’t reschedule, and so did my husband. We decided to “wing it”, and I said I might need to talk more in the call, so he said he could mainly just listen in his call.
But as our son started to be very cranky around 9:45 I started to make my backup plans. I tried typing in a Google Doc of all the things I wanted to say in this meeting, but my son required holding at that moment and I couldn’t type. Eventually, I held him, and used my phone to voice-type the questions I wanted to ask in the call to my two coworkers, and they handled the call with an external person for me perfectly. I was very thankful that I was on mute 90% of the time (in the meantime giving two fruit pouches and all the toys I can reach!) and only had to chime in the call for a sentence or two. The person on the other end was also very understanding of the situation.
2. Try to find time to chit-chat with coworkers!
We found that since we’re both super tired, it’s not that enjoyable to chat with each other - even though we still did. We both took some time to chit-chat with our own coworkers and that seemed to have worked well. We do need a bit of distractions ourselves!
3. Embracing takeout food.
I picked up takeout Thai food from a restaurant close to us. They were extremely thankful for us to keep supporting their business (they only offer takeout and delivery now). Funnily, I met this family of 3 (a dad and 2 kids) outside of the restaurant waiting for their food. We said hi to each other and chatted briefly from a distance. I could definitely tell that the dad really wanted to talk and get more social interaction. They had a puppy with them and he enthusiastically introduced the exact mix of breeds of that dog, and apologized that normally he would let the dog say hi but in this special time it’s better not to touch anyone’s dogs, I happily agreed.
It was great to get food from a restaurant. A great change of pace.
4. We’re well stocked on food but perishable foods are difficult now.
I went to the supermarket yesterday 10 mins before they closed. It was rather quiet, but there were very few things left on the shelf. I couldn’t find milk or garlic. Note that people aren’t buying avocados or shallots, which I find strange. We actually do need milk, and at this difficult time, I’m just thankful we still have this one box of baby formula that we thought we wouldn’t need anymore and couldn’t find anyone to gift to.
5. Find something fun to do! I made my first bread today! Tomorrow, I’d like to go for a bike ride, or something outdoors.
Last night I felt inspired and started making this super simple No knead bread. I’m a complete novice in baking, but I just felt like trying something new. It was super easy and took a long time to rise, but it was so delicious. It was great to end the day with a house smelling like freshly baked bread, and all of us chomping down on that freshly baked bread. Even the dog had some bread. If I’m feeling better tomorrow I think I should get out and get some fresh air! Or if the entire family is feeling better, maybe a short hike in a nearby trail. I think people should spend some time outside! We’ve unfortunately been too sick and tired to do that.