Where do I start?

[Cam2020]

Happy Monday, MNetters,

I'm in need of a kick up the arse this morning and could do with some practical advice!

I currently have Covid and today is the first day I feel like I've turned a corner and can manage anything. Lone parent with small child that I've been battling to keep out of my face all weekend. Miraculously, she's still testing negative and has gone to school today. The house is an absolute shit tip - where do I start?! I'm panicking about contamination (have been obsessively hand washing, wearing and disposing of gloves, wiping touch points) but my head is swimming with it at the moment. Toys everywhere, washing piling up, I want to vacuum, mop and disinfect everything in sight but I'm feeling like if I'm well enough to be thinking about tackling any of this stuff, I should be back online at work! Help! I'm allowed back into the wild late this week.

Where do I start?!

The virus is predominantly so dont drive yourself crazy worrying about surfaces.
Also don't push yourself too quickly - covid has a a right stinger as you think you're coming out of it, so if you set yourself back 2 steps that won't help you or your daughter.

Maybe just focus on enough. Do you have enough food in? Some clean clothes? (not all of them just enough for a couple of days) . Clean dishes to eat out of? (ditto)

*predominantly airborne

Stop panicking about touch points. It’s a respiratory virus. Just tidy a bit and then rest.

Covid hits everyone differently so try to rest keep your fluids up and do urgent and important tasks only. You are working way to hard. Let the kids have more screen time. Try to rest it out as much as you can. Hope you feel better soon!

Thank you. I've been getting myself into a tailspin of worry and guilt. I'm normally quite good at taking a step back to assess priorities, so my brain still isn't working like normal!

Food shopping arriving today, DD has uniform up until tomorrow and about to put a load of washing on then have coffee.

Put the washing machine on. Empty the bin so at least you can put stuff in it.

I would sort the next few washing loads and put them in piles next to the machine. If you don't get anything else done today get that done.

Try not to feel guilty you are clearly not well enough to be at work!

Factor in some rest time - maybe potter a bit until lunch time then rest until it's school pick up time.

I would set yourself a 10 minute task, then have a rest, if you're up to it do another 10 minute task, then rest again.

If you break it up into small tasks, starting with important things like dishes, rubbish and washing then it won't seem like such a huge task.

Don't push yourself too far and make sure you do rest after 10 minutes.

If your dd hasn't caught covid from being in the same house as you this far then touching surfaces isn't going to make much difference.

Put the washing machine on. Empty the bin so at least you can put stuff in it.

I would sort the next few washing loads and put them in piles next to the machine. If you don't get anything else done today get that done.

Try not to feel guilty you are clearly not well enough to be at work!*

Factor in some rest time - maybe potter a bit until lunch time then rest until it's school pick up time

Good plan. I'm feeling more worn out than I thought from just putting a few bits away.

Feeling calmer now and back to my usual strategy of lists of top threes when I start feeling overwhelmed with stuff to do. I was feeling guilty about not going back to work, but I definitely don't have the concentration right now and will only end up messing something up.