Monday Motivation #23 (10/19/2020)
Happy Monday!
I’m the oldest of five kids, and I live next door to one of my brothers. People who knew us as children are always surprised to learn that we’re neighbors now, because we fought constantly growing up. We lived several states apart for almost a decade after college, but soon after each of us had our first child we decided that raising the cousins close together would be good both for the kids and adults.
Fast forward about 15 years, and we now live 10 feet apart from each other, have 4 children each, and flow back and forth between the houses every day. My brother’s house includes an apartment for our mom, and we hosted an exchange student last year — so when Michiganders were ordered to stay-at-home last spring we isolated as a combined household of 14 people.
This proved to be a great “quaranTEAM” and we were fortunate to have three generations to help educate, entertain and support each other. Working and learning from home is still a challenge, even six months into the pandemic, but we’ve learned the importance of finding ways to meet our social and emotional needs while following public health guidelines. We’ve stocked up on winter gear so that we can continue enjoying outside activities even as the weather changes, and we’ve figured out how to play games online with our extended family members.
This week, I’m sharing resources to help you find ways to care for your social and emotional needs and develop a strong support system, even while the pandemic requires that we maintain physical isolation.
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Three Things to Try This Week
Talk about Science — participate in the AGEP Science and Society Public Forum on Friday, October 23 from 4–5pm.
Build a Quaranteam — the MSU WorkLife office offers a number of considerations for forming a “bubble” to support your social and emotional needs during the pandemic.
Spend 10 minutes on you! Chat about questions or concerns and get connected to resources with CAPS Connect.
More Resources
- Consider Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Graduate Students: ACT is an action-oriented approach that uses mindfulness to help you live in ways consistent with your values and manage stress, anxiety, depression, and other concerns. Contact CAPS for more information on ACT options at MSU this fall.
- Register for the MSU Graduate Student Leadership Summit on October 31.
- Learn about building trust and credibility (in research teams, with classmates, with your advisor, etc.).
