The episode is over so now what? What happens after the episode has cleared? It honestly probably doesn’t surprise you with what Im about to say. It is most likely what everyone will be thinking but I am going to explain it!
First I typically spend the time cleaning up our house and being with my family. Spending any amount of time being stuck in bed sick and not able to move much, has me antsy to get moving! Typically that means jumping back in where Jeremy wasn’t able to keep up with the household. Like I said before, Jeremy is to only keep the kids alive, feed the animals and feed the family. He does not have to do anything around the house to keep it cleaned up. To which that usually means that the house is slightly destroyed. The kitchen is definitely our biggest struggle while I am out sick and typically my go to location on what to start with clean up. When I say destroyed, I genuinely mean that we have dishes piling up in the sink, on the counter and on the stove. Usually the entire counter space has been taken over by random items and the fridge and pantry have been destroyed too. But this also goes with the dinning room and living room. They are destroyed too! A massive clean up is underway the moment I am up to moving and being able to function a little!
I also make sure to spend time with my kids to which they typically become attached to mom on the first few days out of an episode. They will literally sit down at the island in the kitchen and just talk nonstop while I work on cleaning up. Now to be completely honest, I typically do not have the brain power behind a conversation but they do not seem to notice and I do my absolute best to keep up with them. The range though of what I do with the kids while recovery all depends on how I am feeling at that point. This can range from just sitting with them, doing a game, baking, or just going outside with them for the homestead chores. Thankfully these munchkins fully understand and go with the flow on what mom can handle.
Next I take the time to get some outside work done. This can range from just feeding animals in the morning with Jeremy to actually working on projects. Once again this is another area that seems to be one of the first things that we let go when I become sick. To which, let me say this again, is absolutely right for us to do. The biggest thing is that we go with what absolutely needs our attention and not to just keep ourselves looking perfect. I will typically take the time to go outside and clean up the yard and do any quick clean ups. Once that’s done then honest, I don’t know why but we always take time to sit out and ramble off our projects that we gotta get started soon. Now we may not actually get to those any time soon but it’s almost a mental thing that we do to give us a sense of normalcy and comfort. It is a way to see that there is still more to be done with this homestead and gives us a positive mindset.
After all of this, it becomes the steady ease back into the typical day. This means starting back up with the everyday tasks, working, doing errands and whatever else may need my attention. It doesn’t take long but its always a nice comfort to be able to get back to the typical day items. This year we had a lot of time where we had to dive back into canning during the summer but now towards the winter, we will have more to do around the house in the sense of projects.
It is such simple things but this is what happens after the episode. In short, I get my head space back to happy, slowly gain back my energy and try to get back to the every day normal life. Simple but this is definitely one of those simple is best moments.