There is nothing or no one who could have prepared me for this.

March 12th, 2020, the Prime Minister, Hon Andrew Holness ordered school doors closed for 14 days as of Friday, March 13, 2020. What! All I could think of was how do we get things together? For a school leader that means;

• Communicating with teachers
• Communicating with parents
• Communicating to students
• Brainstorming an action plan with the School’s Board

Then

• Communicating that to the stakeholders
• Providing training
• Implementing an action plan
• Monitoring and Evaluating the action plan

All in a pandemic.

Not only am I a school leader, but I am also a wife, a daughter, and a friend. Just like you, I have friends and family who have been affected immensely by COVID-19. I have been doing my own introspecting not because I want to, but because I am forced to.

What else is there to do? I don’t want to panic nor do I want to cry. I have chosen to stay optimistic believing that there are no wasted moments nor experiences.

“In the rush to return to normal, use this time to consider which parts of normal are worth rushing back to” – Dave Hollis

I have not been out to work for 3 weeks and the truth is this morning was my first time out for a 15mins morning walking, I came back with a suntan all with the hopes of socking up some vitamin D.

Jamaica is said to be a slow pace Caribbean country, where everybody is irie and easy …lies… okay mildly put, it’s not always like that.

Things happen around here. We may not be as fast-paced as first world countries and how could we really? but we do have some sprint in our rhythm.

There are some things that I don’t miss and some new habits I have formed since being in isolation.

Here are 3- habits I am enjoying and plan on taking into my new normal.

1. Alone time with God – I am a Christian. I have been spending my time studying the Word of God, praying, repenting and worshipping daily. The truth is before this pandemic I prayed while commuting, and morning devotions with hubby were rushed sometimes. He loves to sing and now we get to sing a song at the end 🙂 …Back to alone time with God. I recently stumbled across this app in the App Store called Logos Bible by Faithlife, if you want to study the bible check it out.
2. Spending time with my life partner – Now for those who know me, they would know that I am a quality time kinda gal. I choose who I share my time with and I soak it all up when I can. But even though persons thought I managed my time well, deep inside I knew I could do much better. I missed him. I longed to share various sides of me with him and just to be around him 🙂 Now we don’t have a choice. We are learning more about each other. I likey!
3. Checking in with friends and family – Wow! so I have developed a system for doing this and I go through this daily. There is never a day now that I don’t check-in with a family member or friend. Sometimes the convos are long and some short but just to hear their voices or to read a text at this point is enough.

I am sure as I spending more time at home I will develop new habits but for now those are my consistent ones. What about you?

As you prepare to return to normalcy after the passing of this pandemic, what is one habit you hope to bring into this new normal? Share in the comment box below.

P.S. the title “Tan A Yuh Yaad” is the Jamaican patois for Stay at home.

Clarity Is Freedom
Shana

I appreciate you for reading.