Post 2 - March 13, 2020
Yesterday was quite the day.
We watched the way we live our lives change. Hourly.
If you are feeling anxious and stressed about what’s going on, that’s a perfectly rational response to something that we have all never experienced before.
The thing that you must remember throughout the days and maybe weeks to come is that you are not alone.
We are ALL suddenly without income. Not just you.
Some people deal with change better than others. Please have patience with people who are freaking out and try and be there for them. Everything is changing and changing quickly.
Most of us, especially those of us in the entertainment and food service industries make our livings in large groups. We require a crowd. We can’t do crowds at the moment.
People in the travel industry are facing up to the reality that people are going to be staying home.
People are going to stop shopping for non-essential items. That will impact store-owners.
We are ALL going to be disrupted in a big way. We are all going to have to figure out how to live in this new society unfolding around us.
Watching the news all day is not going to help. It will just stress you out. News programs are going for ratings so they are often dramatizing even the smallest bit of news to make it seem enormous, then repeating it over and over again. You don’t need that. It’s not helpful.
It seems that we are not going to get any sort of meaningful guidance from the federal government or the current administration. In fact, what we are already getting from the top is a bunch of mis-information and outright lies. I think we have to move on from that and ignore him and them.
Let’s focus on what we are getting which is a far more coordinated response on the state level. Not perfect, but at least there appears to be one foot in reality.
So, we are stuck at home - what do we do?
Well…
Make something.
Learn something.
Most of my friends on facebook are artists of one kind or another.
Take advantage of time with nothing to do and do something you’ve been meaning to do for years if only you had the time.
You can’t control what is going on out in the world, but you can control how you respond to it.
Remember, we are ALL going through the exact same thing.
ALL of us.
You aren’t alone by any stretch of the imagination.
How are we all going to pay rent?
I dunno, but we will.
This is when Facebook COULD be a valuable asset in terms of keeping us all connected.
If you are feeling isolated and depressed, REACH OUT.
Write.
Paint.
Compose.
Make a movie on your iPhone.
The situation is what it is and yes it’s scary, but you can choose how you react to it.
What’s going to happen?... Not a clue.
Let’s look out for each other.
Please do not be afraid to reach out.
Nobody needs to suffer alone, when we are ALL going through this. Nobody.
Breathe.
Be safe.
Be kind.
Be smart.