The Final Silver Lining

So, what did we get out of this lockdown? An obvious gift is the spirit of cooperation many among us have felt and expressed. That is important but it’s not the only gift. Many among us have gone back to life long activities, which we had neglected because we were so taken by an extremely fast life style—too fast to allow any time for our gifts to develop. I’ve always known that any writing project requires dedication. However, writing never came first in my list of priorities. I have an innate propensity for procrastination. Because writing was not my first priority, it always got pushed toward the end of the day. Big mistake, because it had to compete with many other activities—walking the dog, stretching, chi gong, meditation and getting dinner on the table. I had pushed it back to an earlier time in the afternoon, thus allowing me some time. To get there, I had to be honest with myself and acknowledge the resistance. I also had to look at my schedule and book some time for writing. Once I did that, something surprising happened. Inspiration found its way in my consciousness and characters started to show up with their voices and their stories. Writing became a totally enjoyable activity as it used to be. Once I gave up a number of gigs that crowded my schedule and only kept the strictly necessary ones, a space opened. My hope is that I will be able to keep my priorities straight, when the lockdown is removed. That is and will be my most important silver lining.