I was feeling uninspired and frustrated with writing weeks before coronavirus took over the world.  It was bad.  It’s a whole lot worse now.  It’s even a struggle to focus on reading anything but the news.  Creativity has been cancelled for now and I’m not going to try to fight it.

This pandemic and the resulting shutdown of almost everything has left me on a roller coaster of emotions.  I’m sure many can relate.  Anxiety, stress, frustration, fear…it took me awhile to recognize that underlying it all is a simmering grief.

Many have lost lives and loved ones.  Many have lost their livelihoods.  Many, like me, have found that our ability to create is paralyzed.  We have all lost normalcy for the time being, and it may never go back to exactly what it was before this.

It’s okay to grieve.

With the absence of creativity, I’ve found relief in accomplishing physical tasks.  Tackling projects that have been put off for far too long.  We’re rebuilding our chicken pen, building new raised beds for gardening, and renewing old raised beds that have sat empty for years.

I’m teaching the kids to sew by making cloth masks to give away.  We’re diving into schooling at home, together with our incredible teachers who have moved mountains to figure out how to make this distance learning work.

We’re getting through this, one task at a time.  As we adapt and settle into our new routine, I’m sure I’ll find some time to focus on my work again.  It’s spring, the season of new growth, and I have no doubt inspiration will sprout anew.  Creativity may be cancelled for now, but it always finds a way through adversity.