March has been uneventful. I mean, we’re in a pandemic. So that’s eventful, but as far as my work, not really. This one will be kind of short. Shorter. Maybe not by much.
QUARANTINE
For the first part of March, things were still normal. Social distancing hadn’t reached its peak (and who knows if it actually has), then my best friend came down with COVID-19. She is doing much better, but it left my boyfriend and me in quarantine for a week (we didn’t know she was sick until a week after our visit). Since then we have pretty much been treating it like a shelter-in-place. We haven’t been doing any non-essential errands or leaving the house unnecessarily. This works well for me since it coincides with my normal life anyway, but it’s been hard not to be able to go on my normal coffee runs or work from a local coffee shop. I’m starting to go a little stir crazy.
ADAPTING TO CHANGES IN BUSINESS + LIFE
As I mentioned above, the day to day of business hasn’t really changed. I still get up, eat, and sit down at my desk for work. What has changed is my client load. I started off 2020 booking three clients in the first two months, which is a lot for that time of the year. Things don’t usually pick up till about late February or March. With this pandemic, things are slowing down when they’d usually be picking up. I know there are small business assistance programs available, but I don’t know how much I qualify since my income varies so much depending on the time of year. I also had several goals laid out for this year that it doesn’t look like I’m going to meet simply because of this stupid virus. Things are uncertain now and the best I can do is keep my head down, focus on what’s in front of me, and follow through.
Geoff Skyhawk deHavilland, III. Simultaneously making me crazy and keeping me sane.
TAKING COMFORT IN WHAT HASN’T CHANGED
I have fared much better than a lot of small businesses as I have very little overhead. I consider myself fortunate. I work from home and many of the amenities that I use for business, like my internet, I also use for personal tasks (“tasks,” read: Netflix and Twitter), so I’m not struggling financially. (Many other people are, and I see you, and my heart hurts for you.) Caribou is still open so I can still get my mid-week pick-me-ups. I still don’t like to leave the house and I keep to pretty much the same schedule. My cats still destroy everything. This remaining sense of normal is giving me peace so that I can focus.
One thing I learned from my dad’s battle with cancer is that when enduring chaos, like job loss or a scary diagnosis, is to keep things as normal as possible for as long as possible. It’s hard to do when things are constantly changing around you and when it seems like things are getting worse. A lot of our “normal” is probably gone for good. Other parts of our “normal” aren’t totally changing but parts of it are. The key is to look at what is still normal, and what CAN still be normal and do your best to make it so. Even if so much has changed that you don’t know what normal is anymore, maybe you can still have the same breakfast in the morning. Maybe you can still make your coffee runs if funds allow. Take comfort in what is still “normal” and don’t forget to take comfort in the changes you’ve seen that are good, like more time with family, or more time to yourself. I’m not going to sit here and say look on the bright side, because I want to smack people when they say that to me when things are difficult. But with whatever strength you have, look for what is still normal and what changes are good. I don’t say these things as though they will come easy. I say them as though they will be something that many are grasping for.
Old habits die hard? I’m thankful that Caribou’s drive thru is still open.
I have had it easy this past month. Many others have not. Where you can, I would encourage you to be generous with what you have, be it food, money, supplies, etc. Where you have an opportunity to lift someone else up by being generous, I would encourage you to do so. One thing I’m thinking of doing is getting gift cards for my friends in my industry who have lost a significant amount of income. What is something you can do to be a bright spot in someone’s struggle?