Learning to Pivot in 2020

Anyone who would consider this year to be roughly the same as usual must be living in a cave somewhere deep in the wilderness. Because for just about every person on earth, it’s been different from any other year in (almost) living memory. And it’s only August. Woof. I might venture to say that for me, a self-employed artist and writer, 2020 has been possibly even more different than for the average person weathering these strange times. January gave the year a dour beginning, as it ended with the death of my canine best friend of more than a decade. Then in mid-March I gave birth to my first child, on the same day our city went into quarantine. The next week, my last remaining grandparent died and my widowed mother eloped. And in August I will publish my debut novel. All against a backdrop of global (and local) medical chaos. For once, I don’t feel I’m being dramatic when I say it’s been a lot. And since I have a history of General Anxiety Disorder, Seasonal Affective Disorder, and Depression, I fully expected to be cracking under the strain by now. But somehow… I’m not. And I think that might have at least a little bit to do with the practice of adjusting expectations. I’m a member of a private 2020 Debut Group for Young Adult and Middle Grade writers on Facebook, and in the safety of commiserative camaraderie, many people have been able to bemoan the various and sundry losses they’ve experienced with their books during the pandemic. These have ranged from...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Books Motivation and Inspiration Personal coronavirus COVID-19 cultivating optimism Motherhood pandemic Perspective Positive perspective quarantine radical acceptance Source Type: blogs