I’ve always been the type of person whose to-do list is always longer than what is even remotely reasonable to complete. A couple of weekends ago, I made an incredible plan to mow the lawn, weed all the bushes around our house, AND dig up two tree stumps in our yard. Moreover, I planned to accomplish this all while my kids were napping.
I know, a lofty yet completely unfeasible goal.
I started out strong, however. I raced to mow the lawn. I was under bushes ripping up a few vines as if my day depended on it. I started to wrestle that stump as good as anyone in the World Wrestling Federation. I miscalculated how long things would actually take. Relatively quickly, I was utterly exhausted. I went inside tired and defeated.
I’ve had similar experiences with other large projects, new workout routines, or a diet fad. Like that time I started a 30-day juicing diet...that lasted only one meal. By dinner I was so hungry I gave up juicing and handsomely indulged myself in a large meal. Then, I felt tired and defeated.
As we are now entering what seems like the 164th week of working remotely, I wonder if we are all starting to experience something similar.
In my work, we started so strong. We did so much work to get our University ready for this transition. We responded quickly, discerned rightly, all the while caring for one another. There were meetings to host online, webinars to attend, phone calls with colleagues about how to do this work virtually, and Google documents and forms to create.
But perhaps you are starting to feel tired and even defeated? Maybe your emotions are catching up with you or you’re starting to realize how stressful the last few weeks have been? Maybe you’re grieving the loss of what this semester would look like?
I think we are experiencing quarantine fatigue and have become a bit quarantired.
I sense I’m not alone in this. Last week, I could not stay focused and was easily distracted. All week long I wanted to nap. Emotions bubbled up in me out of nowhere. Reading the news became too overwhelming for me.
I began to wonder if I thought this was a sprint and ended up discovering it’s more of a marathon. I’m not a runner, so even this analogy makes me tired and defeated.
This might be harder than we thought and longer than we hoped. This has added stress and anxiety to our lives and has been a blow to our morale. There is a magnitude to this historic season which we are living through. It’s ok to be tired, distracted, overwhelmed, and longing for a nap. The emotions we are feeling are ok, too.
Go easy on yourself. We are quarantired.
So, rest, recoup, and re-energize. Take a nap and take breaks. Go for a walk or exercise. Play, laugh, and watch something that fills you with joy. Meditate, pray, or listen to your favorite music. Do that thing that brings life to your soul.
All this is caring for your soul, your body, your mind, your self. Self-care is not a luxury, it’s not even selfish. It’s essential. Some might even say it’s a form of survival. It’s a remedy for exhaustion and burnout. It’s a way for humans to flourish.