Karlee, my 5-year-old, was quickly walking to the trashcan with her plate. I noticed a napkin covering up her plate– an obvious sign that the food sucked and to keep from hurting my feelings, the baby is just gonna cover the uneaten food and ease it into the wastebasket. (A trick she learned from big sister.)

My kids know how I feel about wasted food…especially during a pandemic!

“NO, NO Karlee.” I chase her and her plate down. With my mean face, I scold her, “I know what you’re doing. You’re throwing away your food again--”

I forcefully snatch the napkin back and what do I see?

A freakin “happy plate”.

I sincerely apologize to my daughter before copping my ticket to the “mom’s only guilt party”.

This is only one soft example of a sucky quarantine moment as I have a few per day.

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Have you noticed?

While sheltering-in-place is reducing our chances of coming in contact with Coronavirus, it’s giving us fewer scene changes and offering no new cast of characters to interact with. This amps up irritability, frustration, and paranoia.

If being home all of the time with inmediate family (while also working) is the best practice and hidden blessing, why do our emotional upheavals seem so profound right now?

Is it me or are these given circumstances causing more disagreements than normal between couples?

I believe it is all so because the coping strategies we once used to keep certain feelings and observations at bay are now gone.

And now that sheltering-in-place has been extended, what once seemed like a blessing is probably starting to feel like confinement, and on some days, a disaster.

It is as if we are living in a house of mirrors and everything is getting revealed: we’re awkward, obsessive, bossy…and our hair ain’t done!

We used to get burned out at work and kids used to get burned out at school or during extracurricular activities. We’re used to being in control at work, now home is work, and we’re too controlling! Now, we’re getting burned out in our places of peace…snapping at our babies for making happy plates….

Most importantly though, and I mean this…we are reflecting. 💛 We are reflecting, which means we are catching ourselves and imagining positive change for ourselves. Whether we see it or not, we are not the same people we were a month or two ago: We’re having to think before we act or speak, even if the silence hurts. We’re considering the wellbeing of children and elderly. We’re cooking more! Overall, we’re out here surviving storms and tough times together. Heck yeah we suck! But we’re better because we are seriously trying to suck less!

Let us also be reminded that it’s still and always will be a blessing to be around people you love and care about most in the world.

Other friendly reminders to keep from going stir-crazy:

Forgive others.

Forgive yourself.

Communication is hard; so, if you come off the wrong way when dealing with others, allow time and God to heal it. If your intentions are pure, it will be healed.

Finally, gas is cheap! Go for a drive. Take the scenic route on a pretty day and be reminded of how beautiful our world is.

Clinnesha is a writer, wife, mom, meta-artist, and social entrepreneur. Her work is at the intersection of arts, culture, innovation, and community.