The coronavirus pandemic continues to be a threat throughout the United States. Because of this, many millions of households continue to self-isolate, where parents and children work and go to school at home respectively. This may be by choice or not. Whatever the reason, one thing that is surely in your home with you is stress. Here are the few most common causes of household stress, and ways to help your entire family get through it as we settle in for a bumpy winter ride.
Fighting.
The idea of a pandemic divorce started circulating around April, after many families were stuck at home together for a month or more. This extra time together, for some families, turned to tension as there were no longer free days or personal space. And if you have kids, something you may not have realized that the fighting, even if it’s in the form of simply a bad attitude or lack of communication, has likely had a negative impact. If you feel this way, Family Coaching, LLC can help you all get through the hurdle by teaching healthy coping and communication skills.
Clutter.
If you’ve let laundry slide, allowed the kids to have the run of the house, or simply don’t know the best place for everyone to work and get through remote schooling, your home probably has tons of bad energy. Even if you don’t realize it, there are a few signs that the energy flow into your home is less-than good. According to Redfin, a few of these are blaming each other, constant criticism, and excessive complaining.
Unfortunately, clutter is likely one of the major culprits here. The good news is that it is relatively easy to purge your home of pessimism, and it starts by clearing out unnecessary household and personal goods. Adopt a minimalist attitude, donate the excess, and spend some time focusing on cleaning. Open the windows, wipe down the doors, and look for ways to spruce up your outdoor areas so that you will be more encouraged to spread out.
Stagnancy.
If it feels like your routine is the same day in and day out, you’re probably right. Staying at home almost all the time can quickly turn into a Groundhog Day situation. Eventually, the repetitiveness is going to get you down.
Spend some time looking at ways you can inject a bit of newness into your day. This could be something as simple as trying a YouTube yoga video, learning to paddleboard at your local park, or switching up who cooks dinner and who handles childcare duties each afternoon. Trying new things, no matter how seemingly trivial, is a great way to give yourself a mental boost.
Something else you can do to relieve stress is to invest in products that help you relax, which may be something you haven’t done since March. New bubble bath, for example, can help you wind down at the end of the day. A CBD-infused lip balm is another great idea, and can soothe and protect your lips, which will give you one less thing to worry about. This is a relatively novel concept, however, and you’ll want to take everything from flavor to the ingredients and the overall customer experience into consideration before buying.
While things are starting to look up, there is not an end in sight. The pandemic is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. While we are learning as a society how to contain an outbreak, part of that means that many of us are stuck at home. Don’t let the stress get you down, make sure that your entire family has an outlet, and prioritize.
Written by Jenna Sherman
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