The Coronavirus pandemic has turned a number of mothers into remote workers, parents, and caretakers of elderly family members at once. The days of wishing that you worked remotely are gone with these additional responsibilities. The extra time that you get to spend with your family is a blessing as mothers of teenagers likely are seeing them home for the entire weekend for the first time in years. There are still things to be thankful for especially if you have the ability to continue working or are serving as an essential worker. Financial peril can be the ultimate stress on a family and can lead to overall family struggle.

Staying positive during this time is extremely important as there is plenty of good going on in the world. People are coming together to help those that are susceptible to COVID-19 by bringing groceries or making masks. Staying thankful in times of crisis is important and a few tips to do so are below.

List Out the Positive Aspects of Your Life

Take the time to create a list of everything that you are thankful for. Under each point you need to put why you are thankful and it will show you truly how much there is to be grateful for. You might be struggling financially but have a solid family life and marriage. There is only so much that you can control and list out the negative can provide clarity to what you can control. You might have a few aspects of your life that might be viewed as negative that are out of your immediate control. For the negative aspects, you should put a few things that can be done to improve the situation. A personal financial crisis could have a remedy of picking up a freelance gig to stay afloat and up to date on bills. You can get creative by starting a gratitude jar or other projects to remind you of the things that you have to be grateful for.

Take Time to Do Something You Enjoy

Take the time to do something that you enjoy so you can clear your mind. There is quite a bit of noise going on with the pandemic with politicians seemingly controlling the lives of the people for their own personal gain. There is plenty that is out of your direct control so take the time to go on a hike or kayak down a spring. The extra time you have in your life should be utilized by doing something that you truly enjoy. There is so much negative talk that it can be great to get into nature away from the noise. You can only hear so much about the Coronavirus and have likely already heard way too much!

Start a Prayer Journal

You have extra time in your day due to the lack of a commute and limited entertainment options. Starting to get into a routine of praying and writing down your feelings can be therapeutic. You should consider starting a prayer journal as this can be the perfect way to grow closer to God. You need guidance at this time as it can be challenging when working from home or having to take on teaching duties. Picking passages to paste into the journal that means something to you is important. You can look back at other tough times you had and how your relationship with God gave you the strength to move forward.

The period we are encountering today can make it easy to blame others for what is happening. Understanding that there is still a lot to be thankful for cannot be understated. The pandemic seems to be lessening in severity but it is still important to practice social distancing measures. Being thankful during this period will make it far easier to be grateful for your regular day to day life.