My news and social media feeds are filled with articles on how to maximize my time at home. How to make the most of home-schooling. How to revive old hobbies, finish abandoned projects, take part in viral video challenges and bake bread and educate myself more and more and more. Zoom calls and Google Hangouts and radical self care (huh?).

I’m feeling a sense of overwhelm. There are days I ride the waves of productivity and move forward with ease, and others where I walk around the house unfocused and feeling a sense of unidentified dread.

Can you relate?

These are strange times, indeed, and there is no precedent in our lives for how things “should” be, how we “should” feel.

Press pause

I just wanted to say: Let’s be gentle with ourselves.

• Let’s allow for days where not “enough” gets done.

• Let’s allow for days when, rather than organizing our photo archives (a project on my list, for example), we browse our old photos and get lost in the memories they stir.

• Let’s skip the journaling for a day to escape into the pages of a long-favorite novel.

• Let’s take time to honor our feelings, and to allow ourselves to just be—no judgment, no expectations.

Personally, I will continue to jot down ideas on my own to-do list, and professionally, to offer up family history activities and memoir writing tips on this site, just in case you’re ready for them.

Just remember: It’s okay for some items to remain on our to-do lists indefinitely, and to bookmark activities for later.

I’m here as a personal historian to listen to your stories when you feel ready to share, to move forward with a legacy project that’s been on your mind for ages, and to offer wisdom for your DIY projects, too. And I’m here as a fellow human navigating this new normal with vulnerability and good intentions—let’s do our best, together.

❤️❤️❤️