As women, I believe that we are all familiar with societal pressures to "do it all." Some women thrive under this mindset during normal circumstances, however, COVID-19 has thrown a wrench in all of our lives and added an unprecedented level of stress and additional barriers to normalcy. How can we, as women, now handle our "new normal?" How can we do it all, when that now means so much more and doing anything is more difficult than it's ever been before?
Last week, I scrolled and clicked. I clicked some more and more. Scrolled, paused to answer a Facetime call from my mom, and then got right back to scrolling. I added a total of seven dresses into my Ann Taylor cart. And then I paused and asked myself the following three key questions...
The spread of the current pandemic and the resultant quarantine is affecting all of us at the moment, and for each person its effects are unique. Something I know I've been struggling with in the midst of this change is holding onto my creativity, and somehow I don't think I'm alone in that fact.
I've been in extended isolation before with nine months of temperatures hovering around minus 35 degrees, blizzards, and months of inescapable darkness. The lack of privacy, the mundane nature of the days, and the interpersonal pressure of living with 17 other people was extraordinary.
My top strength is "discipline," which means when my family's schedules were thrown into upheaval during quarantine, I immediately got to work organizing my daughters' maze of online school schedules and modifying my own schedule to keep as much order as possible.