How To Handle Coronavirus As A Family

March 12, 2020

As this week’s news ramped up about the Coronavirus, so did tensions around the world. Schools are closing and extending spring break, some to clean, and some to manage the outbreak. I have some suggestions for how to handle coronavirus as a family.

Be Open To Learn

I got a lot of backlash on social media on Wednesday because of a comment I made on my Facebook page that “if my kids schools are closed, I’d love to rent an RV and take them across the country”. The comment I made was just a hypothetical situation. I was just talking out loud about how I would want to make a positive situation out of a negative situation. How I would want to give my kids an education via an outdoor environment.

I was called ignorant and considered irresponsible for making such a statement. At first my feelings were a little hurt. But then I realized that people are reacting out of emotion. One of the people who made a statement lives in Italy. She has been quarantined for several weeks. Her children are school age; but they didn’t have a plan in place for their schooling needs. I think they are just now doing some online classes.

During stressful times, people deal with stress in several ways, some make jokes, some lash out, some stay quiet. I’d like to just ask people to be kind to one another during this hard time. Everyone handles stress differently; but I still believe in the golden rule, “treat others how you would like to be treated yourself.”

On Wednesday night the President of the United States addressed the country and what will be done to protect the US citizens. I felt that it was important for my children to watch the address so we could talk about it as a family. I wanted to know what was being said at school and then compare that to what we learned from the Presidential address.

Basic Hygiene

As I write this, our schools are still currently open. Two big points we are telling our children who are 11 and 12 is

Wash their hands frequently with soap and hot water
DO NOT TOUCH their face
Sleep. Believe it or not it’s still important to get your sleep so you can remain healthy.
Eat healthy. Yes, it’s important to eat your green things every day. I don’t know what the future holds in terms of having access to groceries and fresh produce; but if you can, please be sure to get some. Make some soups ahead of time and freeze them.

Other basic common sense tips are to cover their mouth and nose with their sleeve if they cough or sneeze and then wash their hands again. It’s the beginning of allergy season where we live so there may be coughing and sneezing related to that as well. So it’s important to use soap and water in addition to any hand sanitizers.

We are also recommending they clean and disinfect their phones often. They don’t bring their phones outside the home; when they come home they are touching them along with their other electronics. So we are being diligent about cleaning our phones.

Handling Anxiety

As I said, tensions are high right now. That was one of the reasons why I wanted to make sure we talked about this as a family at dinner last night. Then we watched the speech from the President.

If your family is feeling anxiety from the latest news or what they are hearing from schools, get the information for them to help answer their questions. You can visit the CDC and World Health Organization web sites for the most current and up-to-date information.

When something big happens, we are overloaded with information, some good, some bad. Yesterday was one of those days. I was at a client site and there were cancellations of trade shows and events left and right. It’s very disruptive to an every day schedule. Therefore, causing additional stress on top of a normal workload.

Some ways you can manage your own anxiety could be by following my suggestions below:

Get outside and take a walk. Get some fresh air and help reset yourself. Remove yourself from your desk and the emails for a little bit.
If you normally work out, continue to do so. You may not feel the motivation to work out. Sometimes the hardest part is changing into your workout clothes. Once you do, you are one step closer to reaching your goal. The workout will release endorphins and help lift your mood.
If you feel like you have nervous energy, use that to your benefit. Do you have a pile of papers on your desk you have been ignoring to clean up? Tackle that pile now. You’ll feel productive and see your progress from doing something with your hands.

Boredom Busters

If your school or work is closing and you are asked to stay home, I have some ideas to help you manage the boredom. Where we live, the weather is getting nicer out, so despite being at home, I’d like to use this opportunity to do some things outside as a family.

Start a garden. We like to start our vegetable and flower garden by seed. Each spring we use soil pods and our indoor greenhouse and grow our plants from seed.
Get outdoors. Just because you are at home doesn’t mean you can’t do things outdoors. We have the farm up the street from us. If the kids don’t have school, I plan on spending more time up at the farm. We will talk to our farmer friend Jeff and see what we can do for some hands-on help for him. It’s chick season now, so we can help Jeff take care of his new batch of chicks. I also want to incorporate some outdoor learning with the kids.

Cook together. Why not take this time to do some homeschooling at a different level. Teach your kids how to bake or cook. I bet everyone has a few boxes of cake mix in the house. Take some of the everyday activities you do and use the time to teach your kids how to manage a home. Do this with age appropriate tasks of course.
Binge Watch. Yes, I said it. Sometimes it’s ok to allow yourself to watch some mindless television. Streaming shows can sometimes help take your mind off the current situation and allow your brain to rest from the outside stresses. Do it as a family or allow everyone to have some downtime to hang in their own space for a bit.

Find The Positive In A Negative Environment

This is rough on everyone. When I drove my son to school today I used the time to share with him how many times, inventions and good things can come out of a bad situation. I encouraged Kevin to think about how something good can come out of something bad. I’m sure new products will come out in the future because of this outbreak of a virus.

What I plan to take from this is:

Embrace the family time. There may be some unplanned family time coming up. I still have my business to maintain; and the children will have to manage their schoolwork in a different working environment. This is something different for them. But I am going to remind myself to be patient.
Tackle projects together. Most families have projects that have been put off for a rainy day. Take this time to tackle those projects, and get the kids involved if possible.
Find a way that you can help others in your community virtually. If you can’t go out and help with your hands in public, find other ways to assist those in need. If there are elderly people who live alone at home; get their phone numbers to check on them. Ask your community center how you may be a help to them while you and they may be home-bound.

Are You Feeling Anxious About The Coronavirus?

Do you have any advice to share on how you and your family are handling all of these current changes? I’d love to hear what you are doing to help work through these stressful times. Leave a comment below.

Lessons I Learned On The Oprah Cruise

February 13, 2019

I came back from the Oprah’s Girlfriends’ Cruise with such a high. The cruise was my first cruise and it was one of the most amazing times in my life! I learned so many lessons from Oprah and my new friends!

When we embarked the Nieuw Statendam, there was a palpable energy, that you could feel. It began as soon as we sat down to lunch with two other women at our table. We laughed, we shared our anticipation of what we thought might happen. Then we took pictures of the “Dynamic Duo”. They gained that name after they called us the “Fabulous Four”.

With all of the lessons from Oprah and my new friends, I will be sharing them with you in several posts; and the Fabulous Four is also going to start a podcast about living our best lives. I can’t wait to start this new adventure!

Lesson 1 From Oprah – Be Kind To Yourself

I work hard and I play hard. But when I am working, it’s hard to get me out of work mode. And then when I am playing, it’s hard to get me back into work mode!

After we embarked the ship, we were hanging out on the balcony waiting for Lady O to arrive. Angie was sitting in the chair and I was standing at the railing. She told me she didn’t recognize this feeling she was having. We are both moms, she has three children, and I have two tweens. I knew exactly what she meant….

It is very rare to have a 12-18 hour period without our children and spouses. It takes your body and mind a while to allow ourselves to be selfish and relax. To actually have some calm and not have someone yelling “Mom!”, and needing something from you right away. Or then arguing with you because you are now going to be wrong for most things.

We don’t easily relax. It is very hard for me to relax. Even when I first arrived to Fort Lauderdale, I couldn’t go to the beach to read a book until I got some work done for a client first. Once I did go to the beach I read one page of the book I had and immediately had to get up because I wanted to take photographs of the waves and the beautiful ocean view. I also wanted to explore the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort which was next door to our hotel.

After I thought about this, I realized that it was ok that I didn’t sit down in a chair to read. I was doing what I wanted to do and I had fun playing with my new camera at one of my favorite hotels. And then getting the chance to get a selfie with the first resort I ever worked with, when I was in event planning at 18 years old! Mike and Jeff still worked at the hotel. That says a lot for the resort that they work for!

Lesson 2 From Oprah – Be Vulnerable

If you know me well, you know that I NEVER leave my house without makeup. On this trip, the girls met me on day one without my makeup on, wearing my glasses, and watching Netflix on my ipad.

With four girls in a cabin, we took quick showers, without washing our hair and making little fuss to get all dolled up. I quickly put on a tinted moisturizer, very little eye makeup and off I went. It was great that I didn’t really care; I let myself be vulnerable and didn’t feel so vain.

Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and chance. Brené Brown

After we returned home from the cruise, I told the girls that I had so much fun on the cruise because I let myself be vulnerable. Heather told me that when you allow yourself to be vulnerable, happiness can come in.

Lesson 3 from Oprah – Surrender

This year my Intentions are very strong. I am making some decisions as a business, with a strategy. Letting go of things that I don’t know as much about; so it can be taking care by an expert who does.

Doing a job you don’t like is fantastic information for you, because knowing what you don’t want helps leads you to what you do want. Oprah

Yes we were this close to Oprah!

I surrendered. I finally stopped looking back and set my course with the ship and Only-Looked-Forward. On the last night, I literally felt the wind in my face and the negative feelings were being stripped off of me and blown past the ship into the sea. I felt that a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I felt like my old self again. The kids noticed it when I came in the house. They saw my smile, my smile was back.

There is no such thing as a Coincidence.

Nothing new can come into your life unless you are grateful for the things you have.

You can release yourself from being a victim and take control back into your life.

You don’t become what you wish for, you become what you believe. What you were given was what you were called to use. Oprah

Just read that again and sit with it. It’s a powerful message and helped me set my intentions for this year.

This Year Is Going To Be Amazing! Six weeks into this year, I have already had two very large and amazing experiences. I also received four sponsored Instagram campaigns. These are important opportunities for me and my business goals.

We attract into our lives the things that we want. That is based on what we are thinking and feeling. We create our own realities and our own circumstances. Oprah

I am confident that I am attracting into my life the things that I want. That’s why I am excited to Explore this year!

I had an amazing time with new friends. It felt like a teenage sleepover party, or what dorm life would have been if I hadn’t gone to community college. It was like summer camp! I can’t wait until the next time the four of us can get together again and play dress up, have a pajama party and laugh until our sides hurt! Have you ever been on a cruise with friends? I’d love to hear about your experience! Share it with me in the comments. I’d love to hear which cruise line you were on and what you thought of it. The Holland America Cruise Line is beautiful. I have been on a tour of the Disney Magic, but never sailed on it.

Tag: #Omagazine