Traditions

As we return from spring break, I have been thinking a lot about traditions and the role they play in my day to day life.  A tradition is defined as the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way.  Many of us celebrated holidays over the spring break and found that the traditions that we were accustomed to (family gatherings, religious services, traveling for spring break, and specific meals/foods) were very different this year.  Within our families, we all have traditions that we look forward to and we may have experienced sadness and disappointment when we could not participate in them this year. Traditions are part of the routines in our lives – we look forward to them and anticipate yearly, monthly, or even daily traditions that provide us joy and comfort.  In times of stress and anxiety, experts recommend that we try to keep traditions and routines to provide a sense of security and normalcy.  This pandemic is disrupting our daily routines and social distancing is prohibiting us from celebrating the traditions are meaningful to us.  When we can’t return to the routines and traditions of our day to day life, feelings of anxiety, sadness, or stress may emerge.  An added stressor for many of us upon hearing that schools are closed for the rest of the school year was the loss of traditions that students celebrate yearly (end of year parties, field trips) and milestone traditions such as proms and graduations.  While we grieve these losses, it is also important during this time to find ways to continue to honor our routines and traditions to help us manage the stress and anxiety we are experiencing.  We have to be creative in finding ways to try to keep some of these traditions going (virtual holiday gatherings, car parades to celebrate birthdays, etc.)  With a flexible mindset, we can look for ways to continue what we have always done.Many people have become creative with themed-dinners, getting take out and dressing up to celebrate a milestone, spirit days, etc. to try to continue traditions that are meaningful to them.  Creating schedules and routines will also help us organize our day and provide a sense of normalcy.  Here are some tips (suggested for students with attention needs) which can provide guidance in creating schedules.   https://www.additudemag.com/stick-to-the-plan-adhd-schedules/

My Reflections:

2 Challenges

• School and work are routines that provide us a sense of security and normalcy – since schools are closed and many of us are working from home, we do not have our daily routines to rely on for normalcy.  
• Many of us feel sadness because we are not able to celebrate traditions in the way that we have always done. It is also a loss to not have events on our calendar that we are looking forward to celebrating since so much has closed down for now.

2 Positives

• Communities are coming up with creative ways to continue to celebrate traditions (car parades, virtual egg hunts, sports practices via zoom, etc.)
• We have opportunities to try new traditions that are also fun. In my family, we have always celebrated Easter with a home cooked family dinner.  However this year, we ordered takeout from a local restaurant that was offering Easter family meals.  We all enjoyed dressing up and using our (rarely used) china to have a meal in our own home.

What can I do differently tomorrow to create traditions?

• We can create small traditions that will add some structure to our day.  We have started taking a daily picture in front of a tree near our house – as the tree is blooming, it will be fun for us to look back at the pictures and see how the tree has changed.  It is also a small routine that my children look forward to as part of their day.  

Your Reflections:

2 Challenges

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2 Positives

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What can you do differently tomorrow to create traditions?

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