Craft of Writing: Pandemic Fatigue & Patience.

 Dear Reader,

Here in my region, we've officially entered year two of the Covid-19 pandemic. Vaccines are getting rolled out and life is slowly returning to some resemblance of "normal." At the same time, people like myself who are high risk of getting complications struggle with the challenges of self-isolation and such. There's a lot of unresolved fear and a lot of unresolved guilt. At the same time, there is anger towards people who are not taking precautions for the sake of public health like flouting mask mandates and such.

All of this is exhausting. It's hard to do things on a regular day when there isn't the specter of death hovering over all possible social interactions. Being cautious and working hard to keep things running on an even keel is hard enough. The added constant threat just grinds you down until you're ready to just give up and become a hermit.

This sense of exhaustion is because we are living in extraordinary times and having an event that is traumatic on a grand scale. You can only live in crisis mode for so long before you start to burn out. I know that burn out is part of the reason why some people are casting away their masks and declaring that they're not going to live in 'fear' anymore. It's the most visible symbol of this silent killer. The exhaustion of living in crisis mode for over an extended period of time makes everything harder. Creative people suffer this especially keenly because we don't operate very well living in extended crisis mode. We need stability and safety to be able to create. The illusory stability of being a hermit only works so well. Then you run out of important groceries and you must mask up and go deal with people.

Be patient with yourself and your work. If your primary mode of expression is too painful at this time, explore other methods. Try picking up a paint brush and putting random strokes of color on the canvas to get the feelings out of your head if the words refuse to come. And if painting or other methods of art doesn't work, investigate other creative avenues that you have open to you. Maybe you have a pile of notebooks. Take one and just free write about everything that's going on. Or open a file in your computer to make digital creations that express what you're struggling with. 

Open your heart and let the pain out. And be patient. We are all on the long road to healing.  This pandemic has injured the whole world in many different ways. Some have died. Some have long term health complications that are still being discovered. Some have lost loved ones and friends. All have struggled with isolation and terror. These things are not normal. These things are not healthy. They are all traumatic and require us to be gentle in our healing process as to not re-traumatize ourselves. Don't expect yourself to create the next great novel or write an epic play. A few limericks are just fine if they help get the pain out and lift some of the psychological burden. Be kind to yourself, you are also still healing from this pandemic.

♥