When my sisters and I first started Like A Sister, we did so because we wanted to build a community. We wanted to connect people, create a shared space where we could have genuine relationships and share life together. Our hope was to create a sisterhood. We didn’t know exactly what this would look like or evolve into, but it was on our hearts to create this space for women. Now as we enter these unchartered waters, we believe having a sisterhood is more important than ever.
Navigating this public health crisis, we find ourselves in a place where we are distancing ourselves and our families from our in person communities. We are hunkering down at home which is so critical to flattening the curve. We are having to do school at home with our kids. Most of us probably feel ill equipped for this. We are working from home (if we’re lucky) or leaving our kids at home to go to work and be with the public (that must be incredibly stressful). I feel so fortunate to be able to navigate this time, these unchartered waters with my sisters because when things feel uneasy, we need each other more than ever.
How can we help?
We would love to hear from you about what your biggest needs are right now. Do you need some online social time, like a Face Time Happy Hour? Do you need resources to help with your kids “doing school” from home? Do you need book recommendations or Netflix binge recs? Do you need recipes or at home work out ideas? How can this sisterhood come alongside you right now and help? Please share with us in the blog comments section.
In the Mean Time
Here I some thoughts I hope will be helpful as we navigate these unchartered waters.
- Fill your own cup first. It’s impossible to fill others from an empty cup. Please don’t neglect yourself. Get up earlier than your kids do, meditate, breathe, pray, center yourself. Get some exercise and some fresh air every day. It’s impossible to measure how helpful this is. If you have a dog, get out of the house and walk your dog (this is my go to “excuse” when I need a break). The dogs can always use a walk and so can you.
- Stay plugged in with your people. Just because you can’t be in the same room doesn’t mean you can’t stay connected. Text, call, and Facetime with your friends and loved ones. Send encouraging messages, lend an ear when your BFF is about to lose it, check in by phone with your neighbors. We are social creatures, but we can stay connected even if we can’t physically be with each other. And please don’t be afraid to reach out when you need to talk to someone.
- Tensions in our homes will inevitably run high at times. Make a plan for when you feel like you need a breather. As I am writing this blog post, my youngest son, Johnny, is sitting next to me working on a writing assignment on his Chrome Book. What a sweet picture, right? Both of us sitting at the kitchen table and typing away at our computers. Dreamy. Well, this dreamy sweetness turned to frustration when Johnny finished his writing assignment and had to “turn it in” on Google classroom. (He’s in fourth grade and only had a crash course in how to use Google classroom on Friday before they left school for what we are calling “remote learning” in our school district.) My little 10 year old couldn’t remember exactly how do this, and he got frustrated more quickly than normal. I could feel the tension rising in me as I was trying to help him. It’s Monday, and we are probably going to be learning remotely for the foreseeable future. I need a plan for how I am going to handle the inevitable stressful moments coming our way. I work from home and so this could get interesting. I need a plan and likely you do, too. Maybe it’s a personal time out, maybe it’s taking 5 minutes to breathe, maybe it’s putting on some hot water for tea. Know your limits and have a plan in place before the bleep hits the fan or hopefully you can anticipate it happening and ward it off ahead of time.
- Have you ever wished for life to slow down? I know I have. Well, it’s happening. So let’s lean in. Let’s slow the pace. Grab a book, start a puzzle, play a board game. One summer, years ago, our family got into the TV show, Lost. We literally spent an entire summer hunkered down in our basement binge watching Lost. We still laugh about it to this day. I’m not advocating spending weeks and weeks in a dark basement in front of the TV, but maybe there is a show your family can get into and watch together. We can’t control a lot right now, but we can choose to slow down, spend time with those we love and use this time to make memories that we’ll likely be talking about for years to come.
What can we do?
Back to what we can do as a community to help you. What do you need most right now? Maybe we unknowingly started Like A Sister for such a time as this? We want to metaphorically lock arms and be there for one another. Don’t forget to use the comments to share with us how we can come alongside you right now. We’ve got this, sisters, because we have each other!
