Strategies to relieve stress, prevent burnout, and create serenity
As we all went into quarantine in early 2020, I remember reading about people using the time at home for learning foreign languages and making their own sourdough starters. At a time when my own family and I were preoccupied with getting basics into the fridge, finding antiseptic wipes, and figuring out how long packages needed to be kept outside to make sure they weren’t Covid carriers, those ambitions struck me as remarkable.
I was grateful that my own kids are now adults and perpetually in awe of parents who were taking care of children who couldn’t fend for themselves; supporting anxious, lonely teens who couldn’t go to school; monitoring remote learning; doing their own work; and managing households—sometimes without partners.
Now in our third year with Covid, the toll on parents of school-age children and teens has come into greater focus. At this point, everyone is exhausted from uncertainty, tired of taking precautions, and sick of either the fear of getting sick or recovering from being sick. A single exposure or positive Covid test can affect entire families and their plans, disrupting comforting routines and loosening reassuring rules for kids. All this stress and uncertainty is causing many parents to feel off their game or, worse, helpless and inadequate. Now, self-compassion is not a luxury, but rather a lifeline.
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