How to Handle A Plague, 17) Spend some time every day on something that is NOT the pandemic.

[gaudior]

17) Spend some time every day on something that is NOT the pandemic, and don't worry too much about what.

This echoes some earlier ones, but I feel like I really cannot say it enough: you need to have something you are thinking and feeling about other than Covid-19.

And by "need to" I don't mean that it's not possible to spend every waking hour focused on the pandemic, because it absolutely is. There is more than enough news, Twitter, and random things to notice looking out your window for you to spend absolutely every second and brain cell on it. I just think you shouldn't, because you will feel terrible and exhausted.

So in service of this, it's useful to have something else that is taking up space in your thoughts and feelings. There are so many options, and it's important thing to note that almost any option that gets your mind on something else is about equally useful for this purpose. Like, if the pandemic is inspiring in you tremendous drive for arts or crafts or politics or inventing educational games with your kids, that's awesome. Also, if the pandemic is inspiring in you the desire to sit down and rewatch all of Leverage, that is also awesome. What's most important thing is that it helps you feel some emotions other than fear, and think some thoughts other than dire possibilities and casualty lists.

I know that some people see others gravitating towards things that are considered more "productive" or "creative" or whatever, and feel bad about it. I want to really, really emphasize that being productive is not the point. We're all doing our best to get through a very difficult time, and different people are drawn to different things to make sure that they have something to focus on other than the traumatic one.

If you find yourself wishing you were being drawn to something different, then my best advice is to just keep doing the thing you are drawn to. Do it a lot. Do it until you feel replenished and less stressed, and maybe even bored with it, because then you might have the mental and emotional energy to be drawn to something else. But this is not the time to second-guess your subconscious, and if what your subconscious says is that you should alphabetize your spices, then by all the gods, get alphabetizing.

The thing you are producing, the thing you are creating, is a self who has gotten through the pandemic. That will be more than enough of an accomplishment.

--R

Comments

[redbird]

This is cheering, or maybe reassuring: crossword puzzles for the win. (

[jenett]

That last paragraph is a key thing, and one I will keep reminding myself of.

One thing I've been noticing is that things where I can see some amount of "this time has passed, I have done a thing" helps in a specific way, where some of my long-term things don't.

I picked up knitting, during a health crisis in slow motion a decade ago, where I didn't leave the house more than once a week for at least half a year: knitting meant I could look at what I'd done, and go "Oh, there is more knitting here now. I guess I did do a thing and time passed." Bigger and especially sort of amorphous projects (reading a lot, writing, really long TV series) don't ping the same thing in me, even though they can be good in other ways.

During quarantine, I've been trying to do the ongoing things that feel good to me, but also making sure I mix in some where I see a meaningful pretty obvious change after a few hours. (cleaning the kitchen, knitting, watching a short series of YouTube videos I've been meaning to get around to for a while and checking them off my list of such things...)

I'm definitely using my inclinations about which things in both categories I pick, though!

[libskrat]

I'd like to recommend jigsawpuzzles.io for those who like a puzzle. Possible to work on a puzzle with other people, which I find pleasant when I can't with the video calls any more.

[sovay]

The thing you are producing, the thing you are creating, is a self who has gotten through the pandemic. That will be more than enough of an accomplishment.

I like that.

[dancing_crow]

I want to know where you put the camera in my studio that is recording me simultaneously working on a long term, slow moving art project while rewatching all of Leverage???