So much has changed in the last month. A month ago I was returning from four months in Antarctica and two weeks of travel through New Zealand on my way home. It was the loveliest two weeks after a great season on the ice. On my way I had plans to stop in LA to visit my elderly uncle and it didn’t hit me until I arrived that I should stay as far away from him as possible after all of the traveling I’d been doing. So I didn’t get to see him after all. Then March pretty much went downhill from there in terms of socializing, catching up with people I hadn’t seen in months and living a normal life.

Here we are. All holed up in our own spaces. Some of us working, some of us desperately wishing we were. I’ve been fortunate so far that my day job hasn’t been impacted and I can work from home. I live in a 350 sq. ft studio apartment (that I LOVE!) about 2 blocks from the capitol in downtown Denver. It isn’t exactly a home office that I have to work from…I have friends with home offices bigger than my entire apartment. It’s more like moving 5 feet from the couch to the kitchen table to get to work. But I wouldn’t have it any other way than working in my own space during these weird times.

As an introvert and a serious homebody, when I’m not traveling, this is sort of like a mini-dream come true being able to stay at home without feeling guilty. I love that I have hours more each day to myself now that I’m not commuting or doing any of the other myriad things that seem to eat up my weekdays outside of work hours. I love that I have the time and head space to slow down and really think about my creative projects and where I’m going with them. This has been the biggest benefit. It’s hard to be still when we’re running around ‘living’ life every day.

I’m trying to take advantage of this time to increase the time I spend creating every day. To hone my skills, learn new creative tools for my craft and generally get my creative shit together a bit more. So far, it’s been going great and I think I’m making the best possible use of my time. I’ve got new project ideas and I’m working hard to wrap up a couple of projects that have been in progress for a while. It feels a bit indulgent to have all this time to do these things, but I’m trying not to let that slow me down.

These are weird times. This is a terribly ravaging illness racing through our populations and it’s hard to watch so many people not being able to make it through. And it’s hard knowing that we still have a long ways to go before we get through this. But in some ways, these are still times to be grateful for. We all get to slow down and appreciate our friends & family a bit more. We all get to spend a bit more time pondering our next moves and how we can create our best lives out of them. We all get to feel connected to something global, not the corona itself, but the solidarity of trying to help each other through it. I’m so delighted by the incredible number of acts of kindness that the world is doing and sharing right now. It’s a rare thing to see and I feel lucky to be able to observe and participate in it.

Yes, these are weird times, and hard times. But there is much to be grateful for. There is much that we can do to improve our lives during the stillness, and the lives of others. Be safe my friends, look out for those around you and remember that we are all in this together. Brighter days are coming.