Day 4 - Corona Voluntary Lock Down

Feeling a little different today. Finding a groove of sorts, with this self-imposed isolation. I woke early'ish, got through the morning routine, described yesterday, and walked to the shops to get some things. I needed to head out early as I 'needed to be home' to receive a package. For once that was easy :)

The shops are only 800m away and so an awesome opportunity to get some fresh air and exercise.

Things were a lot quieter than usual, which hopefully means that I'm far from being alone in this isolation.

Those I did see I made a conscious effort to give some reasonable space and a smile. A few were appreciative. The others were scared and kept their eyes down.

Hopefully they caught the light of a smile out of the corner of their eyes.

On my way back I was thinking about how cool this was; needing to be so mindful of everything. Mindful of people approaching. Mindful of showing kindness. Mindful of what I'm touching. Mindful of not touching my face. Mindful of nature. Mindful of life. I could see how this disaster could really help the world to become more conscious, as a side effect.

I had two things to focus on today:

1) get the word out there about the Humane Corona Support service

2) really double down to show my daughter some support in dealing with the home-schooling challenges.

My ex had been explaining the night before about how my daughter was 'losing it' as she was feeling like she was falling behind.

The first was a no brainer. Get a video done and post it. Only I hadn't really done that before, and so it took a lot longer than you'd think.

It wasn't awesome but it got the initial word out there at least. Hopefully I can start helping some people.

The second was more difficult. My daughter was dealing with all sorts of struggle and it took some time to peel the onion. It was made harder by the fact that she was at her mum's place and so I needed to 'be there' via phone and FaceTime. I suspect the Day 4 of something else, was also playing its part. Poor thing! :( She was really struggling. She had two assessments the next day, had fallen behind with the preparatory work, was supposed to now be on a different subject, and didn't even know how she was going to be able to do the assessments anyway, as she was at home.

After some careful listening, to try to get to the heart of the struggle, I realised that she was actually stuck in a loop and not going anywhere.

It was only mid-Day 4 and she felt like she was a week behind. There were a number of things we needed to work through

1. what was being asked?

2. what was in the way? (hysteria!)

3. what questions could we ask the teacher?

4. how could we work with the teacher to make this more clear in future?

5. how could we create a new 'special' routine, that would make a difference?

Working through one of the preparatory assignments with her really helped, as it identified the paralysis relating to point 2. She realised how doable it actually was. She still had some questions for the teacher and finally settled on an email to ask those questions.

Even asking her subject teacher was a struggle. As much as this sucked this struggle was really helping her to grow.

She finished the day feeling pretty proud of herself. She also Skype'd a friend from school, who was going to be home-schooling from next week too. Being an intensely social creature, things were looking up as she'd been feeling really alone.

Went for a long walk in the evening, listened to some podcasts, showing a smile to as many people as I passed and took in the nature around me. It was just stunning!

By the way, if you or anyone you know is struggling and could use some time speaking (virtually) with a coach, please encourage them to use the Humane Corona Support service. It doesn't matter where in the world they are, as it's online. An internet connection and English-speaking are really the only pre-requisites, to access the support. There is no set fee. Any payment is voluntary.

Apart from the interest in helping, there was a lot less focus today on COVID-19. Sure I checked in and found out there'd been a 50% increase in cases in the last 24 hours (in WA and QLD at least), but that was no surprise. That's why we're doing this.

Hopefully what we're collectively and voluntarily doing will see a significant impact on new cases in 10-14 days from now.

Between now and then, we're obviously going to see things ramp up. Stay the course.

BTW that package never arrived. Maybe tomorrow. At least I'll be home