Pandemic Projects
The global status quo has been disrupted, local norms have been upended, and personal routines, habits, and goals have been unexpectedly shattered or understandably set aside as many of us struggle to understand and come to grips with our new, hopefully temporary reality.
For some, this pandemic has also become tragic due to the loss of a loved one, and the destruction of entire local and global industries.
For others, the tragedy has been less sharp but still stressful and impactful. We soak up bad news from around the globe and have trouble extricating ourselves from our information feeds, lest we miss some vital piece of information, or are left out of a collective moment of victory or mourning.
A great many people are struggling under the weight of financial stresses, health concerns, and both professional and personal uncertainties. Some of us have kids at the house all day, some of cope with crushing loneliness, and some of us must brave the pandemic-altered world to continue providing basic services for everyone else, from food delivery to medical screenings.
None of us are perfectly fine right now, and that's okay.
This level of global upheaval, while not unprecedented, is incredibly unusual, and thus wildly disruptive to the normal state of things: an equilibrium that has its own flaws, but which was at least more knowable than what we face, now.
I've been doing my best to not make things worse (hunkering down here in Missouri, abiding by official advice on hand-washing, not touching my face, avoiding public spaces), and to help out where I can (doing grocery runs for my older/immunocompromised friends and family). But I've also decided to reframe things a bit to help me stay mentally engaged and psychologically healthy for the duration of the pandemic.
Alongside the work that I do for a living—writing, podcast production, publishing things—I've also bundled a collection of other efforts into what I'm thinking of as my "pandemic project," in order to stay active and energized, while also, hopefully, coming out the other side better than I came in.
I want to approach this moment like a cocoon, not a prison. I want to be reminded of the opportunities inherent in unusual and even uncomfortable circumstances, rather than focusing entirely on the (great many) downsides.
To that end, I've made myself a syllabus, outlining what I want to accomplish in terms of the professional work that I do, but also for potential future projects, physical fitness-related efforts, mental health-related activities, and other random things that I think it would be neat or prudent to check out or invest in.
In practice, this syllabus is just a list of things, each of those things then broken into achievable pieces so that I have a near-continuous stream of attainable goals that I can disseminate throughout my day.
This is a concept that can be expanded to include other people, as well: your kids, your partner, your friends and family—the ones you're in physical contact with, or those you're staying in touch with, digitally.
Maybe it's time to finally sit down and work on that book you've always wanted to write?
Maybe it's time to learn how to use TikTok, or to play a video game all the way through, after years of watching your kids do so without fully understanding why they enjoy it so much?
Maybe it's time to develop a meditation habit, or take up knitting, or learn to build a website, or practice your Spanish—perhaps with someone else who's under lockdown and who's keen to practice, as well?
You could use this time to play a co-educational game with a friend or family member, teaching them something you're passionate about, and then having them teach you something they're passionate about. This exercise, in addition to being mutually educational, can be a wonderful way to learn more about someone with whom you're already familiar, because you'll see what they think is worth teaching, and see the world from something approximating their perspective, for a while.
These projects needn't be "productive" in the professional sense of the word. You could decide, for instance, to watch a whole season of a TV show, or work your way through the Criterion Collection, rather than picking up some Photoshop skills or practicing your piano scales.
The point is to give yourself goals that you can work to achieve, which allows you to reclaim some control over your day while also giving you something to focus on other than the near-constant stream of mostly bad news that we're all inundated with, all day, every day, at the moment.
It's good to be informed, but many of us are currently drinking from a fire hose instead of calmly sipping from a water fountain, and that can both add to our stress levels and distract us from all the other—far more productive—things we could be doing, instead.
Most of us have been disempowered by this pandemic in some way, and that can be scary, distracting, and draining.
Do your best to make it through this moment with humanity and integrity. Be safe, be kind, and treat your fellow human with even more respect than usual.
Consider concocting your own pandemic project, allowing yourself to dream big and get things done, while also forgiving yourself when you're not feeling capable of doing much at all: that's normal and okay, and successfully making it through those moments can be a part of your project, as well.
I recently read that it can be psychologically helpful to see other people's normal, unaltered, unfiltered, unposed faces, especially in moments of distress and social isolation. So hello! This is me in my car.
Updates
There are a few new things I'd like to try out in upcoming newsletters, in part because I've been wanting to make this newsletter a more sustainable component of what I do for a living—to publish it weekly rather than once or twice a month—and in part because I want to build on the community that's grown around it, but which currently is very limited and cloistered because of the one-to-many nature of a newsletter.
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Share: Your Pandemic Stories
One thing I'd like to try out is something that I realized might be valuable after I published the last newsletter and received a torrent of thoughtful messages from people around the world, commiserating with me over my recent breakup, sharing their own stormy seas stories, and in general just being lovely human beings to a stranger on the internet.
I benefit massively from this community, I realized, but there isn't a way, at the moment, of allowing folks who receive this newsletter to engage with each other in that same way; to benefit from the network as much as I do.
So let's try something:
If you have a pandemic project you've been working on, if you've come up with some kind of habit or routine that's helped you cope with these unusual circumstances and your change in lifestyle, or if you have a story about people being good humans to each other in the face of our odd and stressful circumstances, please send me an email and I'll share some of what I receive in the next newsletter.
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Classifieds
The second new thing I'm going to try is something I've seen work really well in a half-dozen of my favorite newsletters/email publications: a classifieds section.
I don't like ads, and don't intend to start putting ads in anything I produce.
I do find, however, that I consistently read and enjoy (and click on) newsletter-based classifieds because they tell me something about what my fellow readers are up to, rather than trying to sell me a mattress or something. Some of those favorite newsletters I actually learned about through classifieds in other favorite newsletters, and the same is true of a few apps I use, blogs I read, and so on.
My ideal outcome is giving the readers of this newsletter a chance to show what they've been working on: to share their new podcast, blog or app, but also potentially to share their handmade ceramics business, to find a collaborator for a photography project, or maybe even share their favorite quotes, interesting facts, or uplifting words with subscribers.
The pricing on classifieds in other newsletters typically ranges from $100-200 for 140 characters, but I'd like to keep things a bit more attainable so that folks without marketing budgets can get some new eyes on their passion project, and so that people can afford to post an uplifting message if they're feeling inspired to do so.
Also, I took all the tracking code out of this newsletter several months ago, so folks who buy a classified won't get a bunch of stats or click-through data—I don't like being tracked, so I've made it a policy not to track anyone reading my stuff, whenever possible. So this would be less of a metrics-driven purchase, and more of a cultural decision and/or effort to support the newsletter, by default.
Knowing all that, if you're keen to buy a classified in the next newsletter, send me an email and we'll get things sorted out—it'll cost $20 for up to 140 characters, and you can include a single link. It'll be half that, just $10, if you want to post an inspiring quote, interesting fact, or something else along those lines.
This is appealing to me because, first, it's another possible means of activating this newsletter's community, giving us the chance to become more aware of each other in a non-pushy way. But it could also help make this newsletter more economically sustainable on my end, so that I can afford to spend more of my time on it and hopefully publish it every week, instead of just once or twice a month.
That said, this is just an experiment, and it may be that I do it once and realize it's not a good fit, it's not useful, or it's annoying instead of valuable. I'll act accordingly, either way; we'll see how it goes :)
The classifieds section will look something like this, by the way:
Classifieds:
Let's Know Thing is a podcast about context & the news, hosted by Colin Wright. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, or listen to the most recent episode here.
"If thou art pained by any external thing, it is not this that disturbs thee, but thy own judgment about it. And it is in thy power to wipe out this judgment now."— Meditations
Looking to get some early eyes on your snazzy new project, or have a neat thing you want to share? Try using a classified!
Chat? Slack? Something?
One final addition I'm thinking of making is introducing a chat room, Slack channel, or similar communication platform that we can use as an always-on place to stop by and say hi, wherever we happen to be located in the world.
This would potentially allow me to present talks even when touring and presenting them in-person isn't an option, but it would also allow folks who read this newsletter to engage with each other directly without me becoming a bottleneck.
I've done some initial research into options, and all have their pros and cons. I'm currently leaning toward something like Zulip, which is an Open Source platform that's very similar to (but far less expensive than) Slack, and possibly Zoom for real-time, video and audio engagements/events. But if you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts and suggestions as I figure out how this project might evolve in the coming months :)
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Recent Work
The most recent Brain Lenses is about Panic Buying—something many of us are becoming familiar with right now, I think.
The most recent Ask Colin is about Making Investments; especially our primary investments.
The most recent episode of Let's Know Things is about the impact COVID-19 is having around the world, and across the economy.
If you're keen to support my work, sharing these projects is appreciated, as is becoming a monetary supporter (all three projects are free, but folks who become paid subscribers or supporters receive additional writings/episodes).
You can also buy me a coffee, if you're keen to show support but aren't keen to do a recurring thing right now.
I truly appreciate your support, whatever shape it might take—very much including your enthusiasm and the time you spend reading/listening to my work.
Thank you :)
Also apparently good for stressful times? Animal photos. Here's me meeting one of my fur-nephews, Bigos.
Outro
Life is weird and increasingly so.
An absolutely massive thank you to all the people who are putting themselves in harm's way so that we continue to have medical services, food delivery, and stocked grocery store shelves.
If you're struggling with the stresses of you current situation and/or lonely due to the lockdown, please feel free to write: I respond to every message and would love to hear from you. Also remember that you're not alone, and this current state of affairs is temporary.
Also: on the bright side, there aren't any zombies.
Looking for something to do? Here are 450 free courses from ivy league universities, on a boggling number of topics.
How're you faring? What's your day like, currently? Any interesting local happenings where you're hunkered down? Any upcoming plans that have had to be canceled, or that you're worried might be canceled? Send me an email and tell me about it.
Say hello on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or via Whitespace.
You can support my work by becoming a patron, buying a book, or supporting my podcast. You can subscribe to Brain Lenses and/or Ask Colin, you can also buy me a coffee if that's more your thing.
This is what we need more of right now: play SNES or card games and watch Netflix or YouTube live with friends from around the world.