Structure + Creativity: How to Stay Sane During COVID-19

So today, you’re either in quarantine or you’re trying to abide by the “social distancing” plan from our health experts. In addition to all of the smart precautionary measure like stocking your pantry (without hoarding food), boosting your immune system, and getting safely outdoors for fresh air and exercise, here are my two primary tips for staying sane amidst the COVID-19 crisis.

My work with clients so far this week (out-of-the-office over the phone, of course) has really centered on developing individualized plans for making the most of this time. Given the sudden shift towards introversion and time at home, this is a rare opportunity for many people to finally settle-in and listen deeply to themselves and their creative lives. Indeed, there may never be a better time.

Here’s how I’m working with clients:

First goal: Move through the natural trauma responses.

Second goal: Develop creative, soulful structure for yourself to use this time and relative isolation wisely. Make a list and plan to keep you oriented.

1) Move Through “Fight, Flight, Freeze”

Photo by Bekir Dönmez

Trying to stay safe from COVID-19 and its impact on your life does not require the same kind of adrenalin needed to survive large predators or an earthquake.

The urgency may be real, but there is nowhere to run to in order to exorcise the fear that may be pulsing through your body. Nor is there an attacker with whom you can go head-to-head in battle.

So while many people’s bodies are registering the natural trauma responses of “fight, flight, or freeze” amidst this chaos and global uncertainty, the most important first step is to move the fear or despair responses out of your body.

To support in that goal, I’ve made my “Managing Anxiety Series” free for the length of this crisis. These are 6 short mini “therapy sessions,” like 6 tiny podcast episodes that provide guided exercises for the body or imagination to combat anxiety directly.

Please download them and share with others!

In addition, I compiled a list of 20 tips to combat stress and anxiety several years ago that you might find helpful now. Find what works best for you and remember to come back to those practices regularly.

But this is just the beginning! As that old trope about the Chinese word for “crisis” goes — there is a lot of opportunity here too.

2) This is an Opportunity to Reclaim Your Soul + Creative Life. Use it.

Photo by Nik MacMillan

Everyone has a different schedule right now amidst this craziness, but a lot of folks — especially all those college students who were just sent home, and people who have suddenly lost jobs — suddenly have an abundance of one thing: unstructured time.

Unstructured time can be a mental health boon if we’re in need of it, but a danger if it’s filled with worry or uncertainty. We can turn it into an extraordinary blessing. My primary advice to clients is to get ahead of it. Before the time and relative isolation suck your brain into fogginess and endless scrolling on social media, make a plan!

What activities can you truly get lost in that are analogue, soulful, and sweet?

This is time to read the novels you’ve been meaning to read, to finally meditate, to finally write down your dreams, to start the art projects you’ve been wanting to start, to journal more and sleep more, to play board games and dance for hours, to take up sewing and make a shirt, to knit, to finish your album, to finish your collection of short stories, to learn to draw…

Now is your time. Create a sweetly structured list and put it on your wall to help you stay engaged.

You might give it a title: “My Quarantine Retreat Plan”:

(“My Social Distancing Retreat Plan” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.)

Answer these five questions to help you get started:

1. What hobbies have I thought many times about starting?

   • What simple supplies can you get now to help you get going and create structure around this?

2. What novels or authors have I been meaning to read?

   • What structure can you create for yourself to finish these books versus just start them and get distracted. This is an opportunity to get truly lost in reading again.

3. What spiritual / meditation / journaling practice have I been putting off?

   • What simple, simple plan can you create to stop avoiding this? There is no better time. You need very little. You soul won’t bite you. It’s only intimidating and scary because you’ve been avoiding it.

4. What have I been wanting to learn?

   • Get specific with goals so it doesn’t get overwhelming.

5. What kinds of creative practice terrify me but attract me?

   • What better time to face these inner monsters than now?

6. What self-care routines have I been avoiding?

   • What things, like sleep and movement, can you emphasize now, and what things that have been unhealthy for you, like alcohol and too much social time, can you now diminish without excuses?

If you’ve got a lot of unstructured time all of a sudden, this is an opportunity to make lemonade from the lemons. Do it.