Spending time with family

It is always important to spend time with family, and it can vary how that is achieved. Something that happened thanks to the pandemic is families figured out various ways to spend time together. Spending time together doesn't just have to be in person, it can now be through various virtual get-togethers. It can be nice to be able to spend time together when people are living in different parts of the country or even the world.

During the pandemic when people couldn't travel what we did was on Christmas Eve was we did a virtual get-together, and it involved people in 8 different locations, and it was nice. It meant that everyone could visit with each other and also not have to travel. In our case, 7 of the locations were in Canada (two provinces) and one group over in Prague. It was nice to be able to celebrate and spend that bit of time together.

Other example of spending time together through social media is my husband's family started doing a chat once a month and that was 7 people being able to chat for some time and that was 3 difference provinces. It was always nice when they were able to do this, and this has continued since the pandemic.

Sure, it is nice to see family in person when it is possible, but there are times when distance doesn't make it possible. Finding various ways to visit with family is so important nowadays given the distances between family. What I have noticed is more and more people are using various virtual techniques to visit with family on a regular basis. It does mean that when you have the opportunity to spend time together in person, that time is valued.

Spending time together even if it is virtually is still spending some time catching up and sharing different things.  So next time when you think that the distance is too far to travel to visit someone maybe try and set up a virtual chat, it can make a big difference.

Balancing Work, Personal/Family and School Life

Before anyone can say anything, I admit that I do enjoy taking courses. I finished college and my parents jokingly said I was going to be a professional student, and I can say yes, I am. There is something about the actual learning that I really enjoy. Yes, I get stressed and sometimes frustrated, but I normally enjoy the learning.

So balancing all the different parts of my life can get a little difficult. Running a small business with my husband does mean a schedule that does fluctuate with demands from clients. This means that standard work hours aren't always there. So the balancing of even personal and work sometimes can be a challenge and now add on assignments, exams, and weekly reading for school, and it can be very difficult.

I am one of those individuals that gets frustrated when I feel like I don't have control of my life. I am known to have long to-do-lists, and that is because I break things down on the list, so I can see progress. My to-do-list is sometimes the only way I can manage everything that is going on in my life, and I do put even the smallest things on it sometimes to ensure that I don't miss them.

As I am writing this blog, I am balancing two courses, lots of work and personal and family demands that I need to deal with over the next little while. Knowing that I have done this in the past does help, but there are still days when I want to just give up and hide and not deal with any of the items that I have on my to-do-list.

Balancing work, personal/family and school life can be a challenge, but it can also be very rewarding. Knowing that I can do everything that I need to do and still have some time to relax occasionally does really help. So, before I realize that there is something else that I should be working on today, I am going to do and relax for a bit.