Hello from week 9 of lockdown here in California.
We’re hanging in there. How are you doing?
My last life update was written just before the lockdown – March 9th. Since just about everything has changed since then, I thought I should update you. Here’s what I’d tell you if we were having a virtual coffee date right now, probably via Zoom while my kids watched TV.
Our Quarantine Story
March 13th was our last normalish day. Social distancing was a thing and Coronavirus was the hottest topic but I still didn’t fully grasp what would come. Not sure many of us did!
My fully paid reward trip to Punta Cana for the Beachbody Success Club trip got canceled the previous week, which was very disappointing (but of course we understood why!). It would have been the first true vacation the Mike and I have taken since Siena was born! My half marathon that as scheduled for March 15th had been canceled the day before due to limits on large events. My best friend Asia was in town (she lives in Mexico City full time now) and we had a coffee date at Philz and my last meal in a restaurant for lunch. We sanitized our hands every time we touched anything. That afternoon we found out that Siena’s preschool and all schools in Encinitas were closing indefinitely. Things were getting real.
I went straight from lunch to Trader Joe’s. I’d heard that things were getting crazy. The freezer section was completely empty and so was the meat, eggs, and most of the dried goods. I filled my cart with any of the foods we normally ate plus 4 bottles of wine and my heart was racing the whole time I was in the store. Probably a bit of an overreaction but hey, I have a family to feed and at this point we had no idea if grocery stores would be able to get more food in time to meet the demand.
That afternoon we went next door to our neighbor’s house. The two girls who live there are my daughter Siena’s best friends and they go to the same school. I was expecting them to say that the girls would be playing together until school got back in session, but instead my neighbor told me the girls wouldn’t be playing and he thought we’d be quarantined for 6-8 weeks and that they wouldn’t be having their nanny come help with the kids. I thought he was overreacting, but I also started to panic a bit.
After doing quite a bit of research and consuming ALL the news and social media stories, I started to realize that this was very serious and we had a long way to go to get back to normal. Our nanny did come that Monday (she comes just one day a week) but that was her last time (she has since quit and moved to Kentucky!). We decided it was best for my mom to also not come anymore (she comes for 1-2 days a week), leaving us completely alone in our house with 3 kids 4 and under.
The novelty of “home school” wore off in about 3 days. We celebrated Mike’s birthday just a few days into quarantine and it was a fun distraction. Since we were supposed to go on vacation, we drank a lot. I found it hard to focus on my coaching business or anything but reading the news or chatting with friends in various text, Marco Polo, What’s App and instagram message threads.
I started to worry about how this would impact Mike’s business (he is a digital marketing consultant) and my coaching business. Half the coaches on my team temporarily pulled back as they processed all the change and the other half leaned into our community (in the end, we rallied and pulled together!). I started to worry about how this would affect the economy. I started to worry about how it would affect those who don’t have the resources we do. I started to worry that my loved ones would die from Coronavirus. Basically…I worried. A lot. I was anxious and I drank more.
After a couple weeks, Mike and I settled into more of a routine. Home workouts became more in demand and I was busier than ever with coaching. We started switching off watching the kids and working, dividing the morning into 2 chunks. Siena stopped napping completely (she would nap a few times a week before this).
Despite getting used to a “new normal”, there have been breakdowns, tears, fights, and anxiousness. Life has been a roller coaster and it’s hard to predict each cycle. I’ve found myself eating more comfort foods and drinking more to cope. I am a work in progress in all of this.
Some Things That Have Helped Me Cope With Uncertainty & Anxiety in Quarantine
I’ve had feelings of anxiousness that I haven’t ever had while in quarantine. I’ve felt a lot of emotions from fear, anger, resentment, overwhelm, bitterness, exhaustion, frustration….to hope, excitement, joy, and gratitude. A few things have really helped me cope while in quarantine:
My morning routine continued to be a life saver to me and I added in a daily gratitude practice which helped a ton. I also use my Barre Blend affirmation cards each morning. I drink coffee and drink my Energize and get some alone time and then I do my workout. It’s therapeutic!
Running has also been a lifesaver. I appreciate my runs more than ever. I made the decision early on to stop running with friends and for a while I didn’t even run on the coast because they shut down the Encinitas Rail Trail and coast path, but thankfully the trails near my house have remained open. One of the coaches on my Beachbody team who is also a run coach and I teamed up last month to do a 6 week Virtual race training group and that has been a huge hit and has kept me motivated to do some speed work! I am really looking forward rot our virtual race on May 30th (our next group starts June 8th, if you want to put yourself on the wait list, fill out this form!).
Keeping traditions alive have given me something to look forward to. We celebrated the twins 2nd birthday and Easter in quarantine, alone. We sang Happy Birthday and the girls opened presents with family on Zoom. Mike and I have continued to reserved Thursday nights for a date night, which basically means we have drinks while our kids eat dinner and then we order in food and watch a show together.
My coaching community has been a lifesaver. Not only does coaching give me purpose, it gives me community within my virtual accountability groups, it keeps my mind busy, and I have genuine friendships with my fellow coaches. We do a weekly happy hour on Fridays where we don’t talk business, we just hang out. I look forward to it every week. (I have 3 spots left in my May coaching mentorship, if you want to learn more about how it works, fill out this form).
Limiting news consumption has been a big help. I’ve noticed a direct correlation in my anxiety and sadness when I’m reading too much news. I do not look at the news for the first or last hour of the day and some days I don’t read it at all.
We’ve got a long path to go in this pandemic. I hope that you are safe and healthy and doing OK. All in all, quarantine has been a difficult test. I know that we are very lucky in many ways.
If this helped you, I’d love to hear it or hear how you are doing during this time. You can send me a DM on Instagram or email me at fitnessfataleblog@gmail.com.