Compare and Despair

PART TWO OF OUR "GREAT RE-ENTRY" SERIES

Summer has drawn to a close and it might feel like everything is going from zero to full speed all around us. Back to school, back to the office, back to rehearsal, back to commitments. Where is that glorious, slow, easeful, transitional period we all collectively dreamt about months ago? Shouldn't there have been a time in the pandemic (you know, just after adjusting to the new way of life and just before this moment) where you suddenly became a creative genius - using all of your down time for creative productivity?

Well, sure. But that's not what happened. Over the past few months I've found many of my clients quite unforgiving of themselves - having expected a much more productive past 18 months. From Compare and Despair: "My best friend started an online cabaret series and I didn't even finish a script!" to Where Did the Time Go: "If I couldn't get organized when I had nothing to do how am I possible going to do it now?"

See my response to this in the video below.

Okay so maybe you didn't write King Lear during the plague (and frankly who knows if that lore is even true.) You were in fact busy surviving. And, if you pause for a moment to reflect on your last year and a half, you may find you have accomplished things you're not even acknowledging. Are you taking more walks than you used to? Did you learn the lifelong skill of growing your own vegetables or baking your own bread? Did you reconnect with an old friend or face-time your grandmother regularly? Maybe you marched in your first protest or got serious about your mental health.

I urge you to use this time to your advantage - not to charge from zero to sixty, berating yourself all the way for not having accomplished "enough." But instead to slow down and create your own transition. Thank yourself for staying alive and healthy. Write down your itty bitty accomplishments. Continue fostering your connections. Creativity and inspiration are muscles and there's time enough to get back to it while also being gentle with yourself.

We're to support your journey.
xo, Betsy