I’ll admit that I had a bad day on Tuesday.
I had been working all day on Monday (9am – 8pm), and then I heard the news about the lockdown. I had to spend the next couple of hours contacting everyone who was due in a class on Tuesday, that it was being postponed.
I went to bed feeling stressed and tired.
On Tuesday, I was faced with trying to re-arrange my classes, update the website, and work out what five children were doing with their home learning. As they go to three schools, it meant getting our heads around three systems of home learning (with multiple devices and we simply don’t have enough to go around) and different timetables. To put in bluntly, it was chaos.
By 12pm, I had had enough. I just wanted to shut the door on it all, go back to bed and cry.
I needed space and time to process everything that was happening to me, my family, my business and the outside world. Not having a second to do this led to me feeling overwhelmed.
I had a choice – I could try and carry on and ignore my feelings. I could lose it in front of my children, and possibly at them. Or I could take time out.
I went for the time out option. I went upstairs, lay down on my bed and closed my eyes.
I just lay still and appreciated the break from it all.
I shed a few tears and let myself feel.
I breathed deeply and felt calmer.
I so needed that time out and, rather than fighting it, I had a break. Just a short time away and I felt more able to deal with the challenges in front of me.
I believe that it is so important to allow yourself time and space to process news, to accept emotions and look after yourself.
I know it’s not always easy when you have children – remember that I have five at home – but if you have a partner at home, ask him to take the reins for 15 minutes or, wait until they are occupied/in bed.
If you need it, take a short time out for yourself, rather than becoming stressed and overwhelmed.