Right now, I’m living in the newborn haze – the only thing breaking that up is having 4 other kids. We spend a lot of time snuggling, watching TV together, and with me finding ways to keep the 3 middle kiddos occupied. It’s been a rough 14 months. My husband just returned to work in-person for the first time since March 2020, and our 7 year old has been doing her first in-person activities in 14 months.
It can be hard when life is that hectic to avoid burnout, especially when there’s still so much to do, I’m still at home most of the time, and I’m battling postpartum depression and anxiety. This past year has been one long lesson in what one of my favorite film characters doles out as advice: Just Keep Swimming.
Even When It’s Hard, Just Keep Swimming
Years after watching Finding Nemo for the first time with my now-22-year-old, this is the best advice I’ve ever heard for when things get hard. It’s akin to what you need to do when you firewalk – just keep going. If you stop swimming when you’re in the middle of what seems like an endless ocean, you’ll drown. If you stop walking across the hot coals, you’ll burn your feet.
If you keep going, you might not know what the outcome is going to be – but you do know the outcome if you stop. For the duration of the pandemic, for our family, it’s been one thing after another. Actually, if we’re being honest, it’s been one thing after another since December 2019, when our cat Lady unexpectedly died. From then until now, there’s been no boring months. One thing was certain – if we stopped, we would drown.
Be Honest About What You Need to Drop
Another thing I learned during the past 14 months was that when things are hard, you have to let go of some things or they’ll make it harder for you to get to the other side. I basically looked at things that weren’t necessary to income or to well-being, of myself or my kids, and dropped everything that didn’t fit into that. 2021’s word of the year has been “simplify.” And a lot of simplifying was done. I dropped a few volunteer projects I loved, I pulled back on blogs that I was running, and I stepped back from Usborne Books for a minute.
Take a Break When You Reach Shore
The 22-year-old had his gall bladder removed. Adults in our family are fully vaccinated. Our kids are on their way to being vaccinated. I’m off bedrest and baby girl is here. I’m just now starting to return to a routine. I’m looking forward to picking up the things I had to set down back when I was swimming. But first – it’s important to take a moment, look around, enjoy the shore. If there’s one other thing I’ve learned, it’s if you don’t take planned breaks, your body has a way of forcing you to sit back down.
What do you do when things get hard?
