Staying connected

Here in Texas, today is the last day of mandatory social distancing. May 1, 2020 begins Gov. Abbot’s program to slowly start allowing businesses to reopen and people to leave their homes to go more than just places deemed ‘essential.’ But not every state is doing this and, even in the relaxed rules, I still have people I love who live away from me so I thought I would share the ways I am keeping connected with people, not just across town, but across the nation.

Messaging

Obviously, I text and Facebook message and Instagram DM and WhatsApp and all the messaging apps on a regular basis but, right now I am being really intentional about reaching out to friends, especially people I know are very social and love being around people because this is not where they thrive.

Video Calling – FB Messenger, Zoom, Marco Polo, Snapchat

I love seeing faces. There is something about being able to see people when you talk to them that is just so much more powerful than phone calls of text messages. So I have been video calling people often. A good friend of mine from church and I have been video calling or Netflix Party-ing once a week just to stay in as close to physical contact as possible. My best friend and I Marco Polo almost every day. Marco Polo is a video chatting app where you push record and then it hands free records you saying/doing/whatervering until you hit stop allowing for, in our case, long pondering thoughts while cooking or quick blurbs before I leave to take the dog for a walk.

Phone Calls

For some reason, I know SO many people who HATE phone calls. I dated a guy in college who had an 11 minute phone call with his mom every week and that was the only phone call he would really make. Seriously, we dated for a year and I don’t think we ever had a phone call – even after the restaurant I was working at was under lockdown for like 3 hours due to an active police chase that ended outside (that was fun because my car was the one vehicle in too close of proximity to the situation to be able to leave. I never parked in that spot again if you were wondering). And the number of times I have suggested that people call a restaurant to find out what the wait is and people are so against it. Y’all, calling is SO much faster than almost any other avenue. Just saying. I digress. I like phone calls. I call people often, especially people related to me. And you can almost guarantee if you are on the phone with me you are either a) on speaker or b) on my headphones so you don’t even have to hold the phone to your face! Come on, join the phone call loving group!

P.S. I think I am secretly from the 1940’s so this might be another reason I love phone calls.

Social Media

I know, you are like ‘But Lyss, you just said FB & IG DMs above.’ But no, I am talking actual post and stories. I have gotten a bit (note the word bit) better about posting on social media during quarantine. If you follow me on IG (click the icon at the top of the page), you got to watch a bit of my French bread making experience. If you follow me on FB, you know I recently opened an Etsy shop for all my creative stuff. And I love checking in here and seeing how the people I don’t talk to often but I still know and love are doing. And the memes are also great.

Google Docs

Yeah, this one might make you go ‘huh?’ but hold on. So my best friend’s mom started a Google doc and shared it with the family (and me but I have been told I am basically family which is AWESOME). We are supposed to go in and put a little blurb about anything exciting that happened every day. We went back and filled in February and now are updating it daily. Seeing what is happening in everyone’s lives is really encouraging since we can’t physically see each other (they are in South Carolina and Kentucky so it isn’t like we were seeing each other daily anyways). This wasn’t my idea but I think it is a great one to implement into your life too!

Walks Around the Neighborhood

This one is a little bit less about staying connected with others and more about staying connected to you & your sanity. If you have a dog like I do, they will love the walks as well but I find my twice daily walks are fantastic for keeping me grounded and sane. Sometimes I call people while I am walking, sometimes I pray, and sometimes I just walk in silence, admiring the beauty of the world around me (no, I don’t live in the country, I live in a suburb of Austin so it is lots of concrete and houses but the grass is green, the wind is strong, the sky is beautiful, and the sunshine is wonderful). This is also a great chance to stretch legs and move around – try to hit that step goal for the day.

Quiet Time

Prayer, reading, meditation. Whatever you choose to do, it is incredibly important to include some quiet time into your day. I do mine in the morning and working from home has let me make it longer than normal. There is a shift in tone for the day when you just sit back and be still and quiet. From a Biblical perspective, intentionally setting your focus on the Father every single day helps you to keep your life in line with how we are to live. From a physical standpoint, taking time to be calm and still helps to center you and keep you more in touch with your body – how it is moving, what it needs, what it is reacting to. Again, this is less about being connect with others and more about being connected to yourself and your Maker but it is still important.

Well, those are my tips and tricks for staying connected as we continue a time of separation in the world that is more connected than ever. It is an interesting world we are living in right now but that doesn’t mean it has to be one we live in alone. I am planning on continuing being intentional about connecting with people once we get back to ‘normal.’ And I really love the Google doc idea! Good job Momma P!

How are you staying connected in this time? I would love to hear what you are doing below! Until next time, stay safe!