Angela Walker – May 2020
It is hard to believe that it has been just over two months since our world changed entirely. As we rushed to move our entire team to work from home arrangements and establish new ways of doing business, we were all operating on adrenaline.
That adrenaline still appears in periodic rushes, but what has also emerged over the past couple of months are a myriad of emotions from fear, to trepidation, to optimism. And then there is the sheer exhaustion of it all.
As a lawyer, business owner, newly minted homeschool teacher and wife, trying to balance all of these competing priorities while placing clients first has been one of the greatest challenges of my career.
I have been able to unearth some positives from this situation. I no longer expend any energy trying to decide what to wear. The same three or four outfits are simply recycled as the laundry gets done. I am shopping way less and therefore spending almost no money. Except of course on food. The food budget has skyrocketed. We are spending time together as a family in a different and more concentrated way. And while that is not always easy, so far my six year old still sees this as a positive and routinely says “I really like being home with mom and dad”.
But yes, I have also struggled. And there have been nights where I can’t sleep, or days where the headaches pound from sitting on Zoom all day, or mornings where I wonder how long I can keep this new existence going. I worry about the impact the isolation will have on my child. And let’s just say that homeschooling has not been all sunshine, rainbows and lollipops.
And when I start going through that tunnel of negativity, I have to check myself and remember the incredible amount of privilege that I have. Throughout this pandemic, I get to live in a nice home, not worry about groceries, am surrounded by family that loves me, have business supports from our Government and continue to have meaningful work to do. The sheer magnitude of these freedoms is remarkable.
And I am reminded of the importance of looking outward, to the rest of the world and the struggles that many are facing.