Page 91 - FDCC Pandemic Book

Living in a Pandemic: A Collection of Stories on Coping, Resilience & Hope
Meditation helped with stress management too, of course, but I have found that stress is something that requires a whole toolbox rather than just a single tool to address. After my daughter’s birth, I also realized another reason for my unhappiness: I had very few activities outside of work that I really enjoyed. Over time, I fixed that by reinvigorating my lifelong love of cooking, starting a writing habit by joining Ms. JD’s Writer in Residence Program, and later resuming a fitness regimen after years of inactivity.
During the pandemic, these hobbies saved my life and helped my law practice. Writing was a daily amusement that helped me market my practice, network, and have a bit of fun, even if it was limited most days to 1300 characters in a LinkedIn post. Though I enjoyed working at home and adapted quickly to a remote practice, I also quickly learned that I needed other activities to give me a break from my computer. Cooking offered this, by providing the sensory stimulation and playfulness that staring at a screen all day lacked. It was a fun distraction for myself and my daughters as we explored local produce from our farm share and tried to approximate some of the dishes from The Great British Bake Off. And, since my steps during lockdown were usually limited to a few thousand a day, I was lucky to be able to ride mile after mile on the Peloton bike that I had fortuitously purchased in 2019 as a Christmas gift for my husband. In combination, these pastimes helped me add variety, fun, and health to my life that kept my stress levels manageable.
While meditation, exercise, and cooking are all things that can be done at home, social isolation presented a tougher challenge. So, you may wonder how I avoided loneliness? The truth is that I didn’t. Like everyone else, there were times when I got lonely or just plain bored during the pandemic. Even as an introvert, I still missed the occasional big event, concert, or happy hour with my colleagues. It helped me substantially, however, to continually use the options available to me through technology. I regularly checked in with friends and family via text message and email. I reached out to them to complain or vent when I needed it or just to share a funny meme. I sought out any experiences I could offer to my girls at home, like watching the Nutcracker virtually or library story times over Facebook live, and in working to keep their spirits up, I kept up my own. And I tapped into online communities I had cultivated over the years, including those in MothersEsquire and my community on LinkedIn to share career milestones or funny stories, offer support, and get new ideas.
Of course, there were times when I fell away from all of this. There were days when I neglected to meditate or couldn’t get motivated to exercise. Without a defined schedule, I often struggled to get to bed on time and I pray that I am never confronted with an accounting of the amount of snack food my children and I consumed over the last year. In addition, no matter how hard I tried, some weeks were just hard, like in November when I tried a virtual due process hearing over the course of
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