Is anyone else loving this slower pace of life?

[JMAngel1]

Just that really - silver linings anyone?
No commute, no racing around.
Easy structure to homeschooling is going well - kids are happy which is all I'm aiming for and feel like I'm teaching them good life skills too - housekeeping, baking etc
Decluttering is very cathartic for me and yesterday we made banana bread - I never get time to bake usually.
Lots of reading together and board games.
Trying to stay calm and take each day at a time.
Beautiful sunshine for our one walk a day.

I'm WFH and working hard, but still enjoying my lack of commute, being able to make (nice: water at work tastes horrid) cups of tea all day, having something more exciting than sandwich for lunch and watching the blackbirds pick moss out if my lawn.

Seeing the silver linings in your own individual circumstances is key to keeping your mental health in circumstances like this. I'm also hoping that by being forced to enjoy the small things, I can carry that forward for when the pace of life picks up again.

Great if you have money coming in but not do great if you are self employed and have not been “trading” for that long.

Dd qualifies for help under the new self employed scheme but Ds is under 18 and has only been self employed for a few months.
I don’t qualify as like Ds have only just registered as self employed after a long stint off because Dp is ill.

Dp was made redundant (probably because of his illness) a few months ago

So at the moment we are ploughing through our savings and instead of bringing money in.

So frustrated.

Trying to do all the jobs I need to do so we can press ahead if we get a break at some point.

Otherwise if this lasts for months we are screwed

* I dont understand how you're not all WFH?*
I don’t understand how anyone can manage to get employment and think something like that!

@bringringbring12 Did you miss where I said ah true?!

@Oliversmumsarmy That sounds so stressful :(

Maybe I should get all my clients to send me photos of their dirty houses and I can send them back with all the dirt photoshopped out. job done!

no, it's immensely stressful as a full time working single parent trying to juggle a very full on job, and educate/look after several children.

I spend most of each day hyperventilating.

And don't even think about how I will be doing food shops, what happens if my company goes out of business or what happens if I get ill. And the mess in the house too.

There are moments of loveliness - dinner with the kids, messing around sometimes, laughing and some of our ridiculous plans for filling our time.

If I didn't have work, I think I would enjoy the time with them. or if I didn't have them I would be ok wfh. But doing both at the same time, completely on my own? If I smoked, I would be chain smoking.

Life hasn't slowed down for me at all. I'm regularly working 12 hours days now I'm trying to work from home and look after DS at the same time.

I'm about 10 times as stressed out and busy as I normally am.' And the DS is an unsettled mess because his routine has been disrupted and he misses all his little friends at nursery.

If I didn't have a baby, I'd be loving it.

WFH plus looking after kids sounds absolutely exhausting and impossible :( :( :(

I miss nursery. I really bloody miss nursery and DD loves it too. I miss playdates and playgroups, my daily coffee run and Saturday brunches with my little family. In the summer I will really miss my family who descend on us from abroad for six weeks every year. I miss the social aspect already and we are a teeny tiny way in so that's worrying.

Workwise it's no different as DP and I already work from home.

I never thought I'd say this, but I miss going into my office. Having been a sahm for a decade going back to an office was so nice, getting out the house & dressed up for work. I've only been working since mid October.

However I'm enjoying the calmer mornings. Dh and I are both wfh so it can be chaotic.

I miss my karate clubs massively, I miss my friends and I'm worried about how and if and when this all ends.