Words of Encouragement to Read During Hard Times

 I wrote this for me, but maybe these words will encourage you too.

You really are smart and capable, even when you don’t feel that this is true. And people are capable of changing. If you don’t like the way something is going, it’s okay to try something different. 

This may sound counter-intuitive, but you don’t have to like something to get it done or to like the end result. Being unhappy or tired or bored in the middle is often part of the process. Suck it up and deal with it.

Finally, be kind to yourself in hard times. Everyone makes mistakes, everyone has bad moods and bad days, everyone experiences failures on the way to success. It’s okay not to know how to do something and it’s okay to mess up while you’re figuring it out.

The wonderful thing is that we get through hard times. Hard times don’t last forever. 

In the end, everything will be okay. Really.

Looking for that silver lining—Creativity during a global pandemic

What was it like being creative during the last two years, as COVID-19 upended our lives?

Clouds over Miami by Lonny Paul

Being creative was easy at first. With the lockdowns, my schedule opened up and I finally had time to work on some projects.

Then I had to go out to shop and be back in the world, before vaccines were available. Stress! Just getting groceries exhausted me so much that I could do nothing else for the rest of the day.

"Stressed College 
Student" by CollegeDegrees360

My mother used to say, when she had to do something hard or that she really hated, “I just kept slogging away at it.” That’s how life has felt recently. Every day has been like slogging through mud, pulling one foot out and taking everything one miserable step at a time.

What did I do during the pandemic when we couldn’t have live music rehearsals? I was cut off from my musical friends and from my violin teacher. My early music group, the Strong Oak Consort, tried rehearsing on Skype, but we couldn’t play as an ensemble. One person would play their part, everyone else would mute and try to play along. It didn’t work very well.

Then we decided to record a Christmas album using free software on the Internet. With soundtrap.com, we were able to do multi-track recording remotely. Being able to complete that project felt great.

I also attempted NaNoWriMo, and started writing a horror novel set in a fictionalized version of Bisbee, Arizona. Maybe writing horror was a way of getting out all that negativity.

The last two years have been a time of lower productivity for me, but I did my best to stay connected with my creative community and kept going as well as I could. Overall, it wasn’t a bad time in terms of creativity. I learned that I could function with fewer commitments and demands on my time. I learned to use my time at home more efficiently. I’ve found inner resources I didn’t realize I had.

I wouldn’t go through this again voluntarily, and I can’t wait for it to be “over” (whatever that may mean). People used to say, “It’s an ill wind that blows no good,” and “Every cloud has a silver lining.” That may be a bit clichéd, but in my case, it has been true. I’m glad that I had some positive outcomes in what has been a very difficult time for the world.

"Happy Ending" by Chrismatos

Swedish Death-Cleaning End-of-Year Update

This was on my closet door for 16 months!!!

Reading 50 books didn't go so well. I only managed to finish 18 books during 2021. Some of them were library books or ebooks, and I think I only gave away one or two of the books that I owned.

On the other hand, I finally discarded or donated 1,000 things. After listening to a TED Talk in July of 2020, I was inspired to get rid of 1,000 things because, as Liz Wright said, it would change my life.

Click here to watch Liz Wright's TED Talk.

I am happy to report that it actually did change my life significantly for the better.

I didn't put a lot of energy into Marie-Kondo-style tidying and decluttering, but one of the surprising benefits of having this goal was that I bought way less stuff because, you know, it would be more work to discard or donate it later on. Every purchase became more deliberate and I ended up with fewer projects to complete and fewer books to read someday.

A second surprising benefit was less stress, because the pile of things I needed to do or deal with wasn't constantly growing/growing exponentially.

Liz Wright was correct: Get rid of 1,000 things, and you will change your life for the better!