When I was pregnant with H8, I fulfilled a lifelong dream by earning my private pilot's license. Flying is an expensive hobby, so although I keep the shiny license with the picture of the Wright brothers in my wallet where I can see it often, it is no longer current and I would need to spend a fair bit more time and money to regain enough proficiency to take an airplane up again. However, one skill from my flying lessons that is still useful on a daily basis is using a checklist.
Flying involves checklists for everything. Before you even get into the airplane, there's a list of items to check to make sure nothing is broken, the fuel in the tank is uncontaminated by water, there is enough oil in the engine, and so forth. Once you start up the engine, there's another checklist to ensure the engine is working right. Takeoff has a checklist, as does landing, and you memorize checklists for emergencies - if your engine fails, you don't want to have to flip through a manual to find the right checklist. The proper way to do the checklist is to know all the action items on the checklist, do them in order, and then systematically read the list to ensure that you actually did each item without missing anything.
Of course, if something goes wrong with an airplane while it's flying, you can't just pull over and park while you figure out what happened. But checklists are also useful in everyday life, where the consequences of deviating aren't as dire. I have often used checklists for myself and my children as we learn at home and keep it clean. The exact details of the checklists change with our needs, and during the lockdown I am using exactly one: my happy list.
Because all our outside activities are cancelled and we are restricted to only essential activities outside the home, I've been finding it less easy than usual to maintain a positive attitude. A few weeks ago, I sat down and listed things I like to do, things that make me feel good about myself when I do them. Instead of putting any kind of expectation in the title of the list, I simply called it, "Things I Like to Do Every Day". It includes Bible reading, prayer, singing a Psalm, putting on earrings, and working on several long term projects: memorizing several chapters of the Bible, learning Norwegian, practicing my violin, and writing for this blog. If I do nothing other than my happy list, I still feel that the day has been productive.
A side effect of having my happy list has been that I have more energy and joy to work with my children. Because I'm not feeling like life is all work and no play, I can encourage them to do things that give them joy, as well. This has the trickle down effect of making them happier, too. And as they see me gain fulfillment from doing things that are not only satisfying but useful, they are encouraged to spend time on things that truly satisfy them - P15 is writing, E14 is carving, B10 and H8 play with Lego, and E6 still enjoys Duplo. They spend time on computer games, but not all day. They, like me, have found that doing real things is more satisfying, even when the scope of real things is restricted by the pandemic.
What activities would you put on your happy list?
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