special episode Transcript

“All this time I’ve been like an egg in boiling water and when the water stops boiling, it’s kind of difficult to expect to still get a boiled egg.”
– Jeffrey Phillips

MD: Welcome to a very special edition of Routines & Ruts, the podcast exploring the daily rhythms and inevitable stumbles in our creative lives.

Those two intersecting things, our routines and our ruts, have perhaps never been more prominent.

In unprecedented times, like this very pandemic, our routines change. Our worlds change. Our environments change. And as you heard from illustrator Jeffrey Phillips at the beginning, we can’t expect to be the same – we can’t expect to get a boiled egg when the water stops boiling.

For some, experiencing a light simmer has been a welcome change of pace. For others, it’s conjuring anxiety, uncertainty, anger and grief. For many others, the pot might feel as if it’s boiling over.

The temperatures are different. The measures are different. The impact and how the change affects our daily lives is different.

I wanted to showcase those differences, because that’s where I think we often find connection, empathy, solace, and comfort.

So a few weeks ago, you might have seen that I put out an open survey for you to share your experiences of this time. Thank you to each and everyone one of you for sharing your reflections, your fears, your advice, your struggles, and even your delights – it’s created what I hope is a rich resource and a slice of creativity in the times of COVID-19.

For some, nothing much has changed. For others, daily life is unrecognisable. Some people have had cancelled trips or plans to move overseas. Some have lost work, gigs, jobs, livelihoods. Some have picked up unexpected work. Some are pulling children out of school and day care. Some have more time. Some have less time. Some are working remotely from home in these makeshift offices. Some are juggling homeschooling. Some are alone. Some are seeing this as a sabbatical. Some are unwell. And some are grieving.

Because of these variances, there is no one way to navigate a pandemic, so this routine collage is a gathering, a collection, a sharing of differences and hopefully some unifying reflections, from not only you, but dozens of artists and creatives I’ve previously interviewed who generously shared how their creative lives have been impacted.

But this collage, this episode, this endeavour to show the differences, is also limited. It does not encompass each and every experience – it would be impossible to show every corner of the globe, to show all the fears, all the up-endings, all the loss and grief.

I want to acknowledge this collection and the experiences within it, including my own, are limited, but my hope is that they are something, to someone, who needs to hear they aren’t alone in their stumbles.

Even with the inevitable limitation, my hope is this special episode creates a broadening for you in your creative and your personal life. What does a creative soul crave? How do we stay connected? How do we inspect what we are feeling? How do we remove pressure, or use it constructively?

This episode brings together over 60 perspectives, so you can hear how other people are coping, their routines and their ruts, so you can maybe feel less alone in your own. I know I have.

As well as answering some of those questions, this collage, this slice of creative life in these times, shows so much feeling. We are confused, we are elated, we are sad, we are distracted, we are fighting, we are unsure, we are unproductive, we are motivated, we are uncertain, we are hopeful. We feel tired, guilty, bored, less focussed, like there isn’t anything to look forward to. There is a sense of hopelessness, of shock, of fear and collective grief, but also some moments of joy and appreciation. In fact, many.

We have mixed feelings. We have shifting feelings. So, to begin, here’s the wonderful illustrator and writer, Mari Andrew who is currently writing a weekly column on her time in quarantine and finishing edits on her next book.

Mari Andrew: I’ve got to say, though, I don’t know where the days have been going. I know that we’re not supposed to feel bad about ourselves for not being productive, but I do kind of feel, like, what have I been doing? I like structure, I like routine, and I haven’t yet got into one.

I’ve been trying to do these walks in the morning because that’s what I did in my old life. In my old life, I would’ve liked to journal. I haven’t even cracked open my journal. I just haven’t felt like it. And I wanted to keep up with my Spanish lessons and start baking and puzzling and doing all of the things that everyone else is doing, and I don’t know what I’ve been doing.

I haven’t been sitting there scrolling or anything, so it’s not like I’ve been wasting time. I don’t know. I honestly, I don’t know what I’ve been doing. What have I been doing? I mean, I guess I spend a lot of time making meals. Not necessarily cooking, but just putting things together.

I do exercise every day, that’s something that’s been really important. So all of that takes up time, I suppose, and internetting, just getting back to people. I feel like correspondence has really amped up. There’s times that feel cosy and nice at home and there are times when I feel really scared and there are times when I’m not really sanitising much and I’m not being careful, and then there’s times when I’m freaking out and pouring alcohol over everything.

So it’s quite manic, I would say, and I think that’s probably how a lot of people feel, but that’s not how a lot of people present themselves. I’m kind of jealous of anyone who’s having life revelations. I’m certainly not. A lot of people have asked me if I’m more creative or introspective, and the answer is a resounding no.

If anything, I’ve been less creative and less introspective just because we’re processing so much and it’s impossible for me to have any perspective on it. And then, as far as introspection, I think if I really thought about what’s going on, I would never stop crying, so I can’t let myself go there, which makes me not sensitive enough to really introspect or create or anything.

MD: As Mari touched on, introspection can almost be a little bit scary at the moment, which makes it difficult for some of us to create.

Here’s Stavroula Adameitis, an artist and designer who works under the moniker Frida Las Vegas, putting words to the collective grief…

Frida Las Vegas: I think this time is not necessarily a free pass to have extra time in order to create, like a break from everyone’s busy schedules that’s enforced because of the circumstance of staying at home.

I think this is a time of collective grief that’s being experienced on a really unprecedented level and, because everyone’s experiencing this collectiveness, this very shared sense of restriction of freedom and unhappiness, I wouldn’t really say that that’s a great environment in order to be creative.

So, personally, I’m just rolling with it and not putting any pressure on myself to produce anything. This is a time to do whatever anyone feels like at any point, and to be respectful and mindful and give yourself slack that you might not usually get time or bandwidth to.

MD: Finding it a challenge to create, prioritise, or find focus for creative work was a common thread from the survey.

Some of you feel the pressure to “make the most of this opportunity” or "write your great novel now" or "pivot to online and keep growing", but also find it to be a very unhelpful expectation in an already stressful situation.

And one listener described, “What I've found unhelpful is the expectation that we should all emerge from this with a newfound skill/career/business/self. Sometimes we need to sit back and do nothing. I've had to battle the temptation to sign up for every online course. I'm challenging myself to rediscover my creativity in my own way.”

Some of you described being overwhelmed by how much you want to get done, or your big goals, but recognising that sometimes getting through the day is enough.

Someone described their most intense struggle as being the idea that even with a worldwide pandemic and social isolation, they still haven’t found a way to prioritise art over day to day minutiae.

Some of you were stuck and confused. Blocked. Some of you have a stalled creative drive or blaming yourself for feeling frozen. Some are feeling the pressure and expectations are a burden.

One listener said, “I lost a lot of work this year with COVID and part of me feels like I should hustle hard to stay afloat. Then another part of me is like, why don't we take a break?”

Another listener said, “Creativity that expects anything in return is never positive. It has to be free of any burdens for it to be fun and meaningful to me.”

Someone added that, “Maybe some of the best results will actually appear five years down the line, not right now.”

Aside from expectations, there is also the reality that not everyone has more time to be creative or to “seize the moment.” As one listener said, “I have less time. I'm a writer by day, for a public organisation, and a creative fiction and scriptwriter in the corners and pockets of time that I create around it. Those corners have vanished. Not being able to go to work and have the kids go to childcare and school means I don't have a break. There's a constant hum of anxiety and things to do, and no time for my own luxuriant thoughts and creative processes. We just have to get through it.”

Instead of pressuring themselves to be creative, some are just finding focus on their basic necessities and creativity comes in the form of things like cooking, and that focus on basic needs, of navigating a complete shift in circumstances has been a common one. Here, I’ll share a collection of stories from artists who have lost work and opportunities and navigated a new relationship to creativity after experiencing the unexpected.

First, here’s Bethany Simons.

Bethany Simons: I’m normally a theatre-maker, a writer, performer, and teaching artist based in Melbourne, but at the moment I’m an ‘I don’t know’ based in [inaudible 10:46], New South Wales. I’ve decided to be close to family during this time, and so I’m living with my parents for the first time in 17 years, which is quite an adjustment.

I crashed emotionally when I got home. Well, that’s a lie, I actually threw myself straight into a new project for the first week that I got home, which is classic Beth, and then I crashed and I realised I needed to be my own best friend and actually process my feelings and validate the loss and not compare myself to others.

I can sum it up by saying that comparison is the thief of joy, and I’m having to be really mindful of when I compare myself to others because there was all this talk that we’re all in the same boat, but a useful quote I heard this week is that, “We’re not all in the same boat. We’re in the same storm, but we’re in very different boats.”

And so it’s freed me up from feeling guilty if I’m enjoying this time, and it also allows me to feel to crash emotionally, which I feel the loss for my own projects, so I need to just go, okay, everyone has their own story and their own situation. How can I be kind to myself? And because I then have good mental health, how can I support friends in other ways?

That’s what the world needs at the moment, is kindness, so I have to love myself first in order to love others well. Through the day, I’m trying not to feed off the world’s commentary of what is going on, but to actually listen to myself, so I am doing exercise in the morning, I’m writing a journal, I’m spending as much time outside in mum and dad’s garden as I can, I go for a walk in the afternoons, and I’m trying not to pressure myself to be productive or creative, but also giving myself space to just freely explore what might be coming up for me each day.

MD: In a different but slightly similar boat is Anu Kumar, a documentary photographer who’s often required to travel for her work and has found herself back at home with her parents for an extended stay. Dream jobs have had to be declined, and a plan to move to London has been put indefinitely on hold.

While Anu mentioned it’s both sad and disappointing, she also acknowledged the privileged position that she’s in, not having to have some of that financial stress. Her reflections are a reminder that we can both wobble and feel motivated at the same time. Here’s Anu Kumar:

Anu Kumar: At the start of all this, I was so motivated to start working out and read all those books that I’d collected and had been meaning to read, and actually was quite inspired to create a photo story in isolation because this is the first time that all of the kids are back home, so my brother’s returned and my cousin as well, so it’s a big household. We’ve got five people all congregated together, and it’s pretty special.

We have lunches all together and dinners all together, and this has never really happened to us before.

At the start, it was definitely a lot more fun. We had midnight margaritas, like in Practical Magic, and would make pasta from scratch and I was learning all these Indian Ayurvedic remedies and washing my hair with all these natural powders and potions and all that.

There was definitely this feeling of getting back to my roots and learning all these things that I never had time for before, which has been really inspiring and nourishing, but now I think the novelty of that has worn off and I think we’re all feeling this urge and frustration that we want to get back to our regular lives.

I think one of the main difficulties I’ve been facing is probably when you return back to your parents’ house, you definitely revert back into your 14-year-old self, which you have this assumption that you enter the real world of paid rent, of got a job, and I have my shit somewhat together, but as soon as you return back to your parent’s self, you really fall into these bad old habits that you had when you were 14, and I thought I was actually done with the silent treatment but apparently not.

It’s definitely difficult to be an adult in a house where you were a child before, where your parents are still kind of trying to parent you in the same way they did ten years ago. So I think that’s something that I’m having to figure out how to navigate going forward.

MD: Plans for moving overseas or even just well-deserved holidays have been put on hold for many, yet for photographer Shannyn Higgins, she has still reaped some of the benefits of having a staycation and given herself a permission slip not to create.

Shannyn Higgins: I was actually due to take my first holiday in over a year in mid-March and I’d been working these ridiculously long hours to wrap shoots and to finish with the edits, so when I made the decision to cancel the trip, I actually didn’t have any work lined up and life seemed to come to a grinding halt pretty quickly.

I was admittedly burnt out, so I tried to see it as an opportunity to have a staycation while keeping the grief and shock of what was going on around me in this crazy time at bay. Definitely struggled to be creative. As much as I don’t really like to say that out loud, it’s hard to process when you’re still in the thick of something.

I gave myself a permission slip pretty early on not to have to create, so instead I’ve just been documenting life on walks and doing little projects just for me. It’s kind of nice to create and not have to share that with the world.

I’m also finding that I’m enjoying other outlets of creating that aren’t directly attached to my career a lot more as well. I don’t normally get to carve out such an amount of time to knit and paint and write and exercise, so being able to funnel my energy into this other activities has really been able to take the pressure off.

MD: Artist and cartoonist Sarah Nargorcka, also known as Gorkie, made the decision to head back to the family farm when work dried up, and shares her reflections on self-judgement about her creative practice.

Gorkie: My life currently looks quite different than it usually does. I’ve temporarily moved back to the family farm I grew up on because most of my work dried up and luckily there was things for me to do here. I’ve been on the tractor, I’ve been planting seeds, I’ve been cutting wood and chasing sheep, chopping down things, and planting things, so it’s been lovely to be back with the earth.

But also it feels like I’ve put a lot of projects that I was mulling over on hold, in a sense. One thing that I’ve really noticed is that I had a lot of self-judgement before this about wasting time in my practice. I thought, I don’t really work full-time, but being here and spending all this time doing manual labour and trying to slot in my cartooning and writing around that makes me realise, no, I definitely was doing full-time hours on my art practice. It just looks different than manual labour.

I don’t really have any kinds of advice. I feel like everyone’s just coping the way they can. Everybody I talk to is on an absolute emotional rollercoaster, and extreme emotions seem pretty normal right now, I think.

Some days I will be full of energy and like nothing is wrong, nothing has changed, and other days I will just have absolutely no energy and I’ll cry or I’ll just lie down in the middle of the day, but then the next day I might be fine. So it just seems a bit more extreme than usual, which makes a lot of sense.

MD: When it comes to uninterrupted and disseminated plans, many people are also experiencing a kind of grief. Here’s Gabrielle Tozer, author of children’s books and young adult novels, speaking to that grief and the daily fogginess that comes with it.

Gabrielle Tozer: Like so many people, I’ve lost months of work, including an ongoing freelance writing arrangement, as well as the cancellation of multiple writer’s festivals. When the cancellations first hit over two or three brutal weeks, my brain stopped working the way I need it to, to function at my best.

I was overwhelmed by a fogginess and an exhaustion, and I’ve since realised that this was a form of grief. I was struggling with a loss of some sort. I’m a big planner, so it was like a line had been drawn through my career plans and my income for 2020, and it’s just taken me so much longer than I expected to reboot from that disappointment.

One project that’s proved to be an anchor for me is the manuscript for my next novel with Harper Collins. I couldn’t focus on it for a while, but the fogs finally lifted and it’s proving to be a wonderful outlet, however I have a two-year-old at home with me most days now because of all the changes, so productivity is so challenging.

I can get literally zero work done when she’s around, so I’m experimenting with a new routine where I wake up at 5am and I sneak in some work before she’s up, and this means I can get a little win for myself at the start of the day and take the night off, while still being able to meet her needs throughout the day.

But 5am for me hurts, even for me, and I’m a morning person, so I’ve had to sleep with my phone well out of reach on the other side of the room, just so I have to get out of bed to turn off the alarm, otherwise I’ve just been snoozing it and falling back asleep and basically not being able to work for days in a row.

MD: So much of the creative industry relies on in-person gatherings – music tours, cultural events, workshops, festivals, and book launches. Julia Busuttil Nishimura writes recipes and cooks, and here she shares her reflections on the launch of her latest cookbook being postponed.

Julia Busuttil Nishimura: I also have a four-month-old baby, which has been an interesting experience navigating having a newborn in this time, and also a four-year-old, so life at home has been rather hectic, I guess, for me.

A lot has changed in the sense that a lot of the shoots I do are with people, so I’ve really been missing that social aspect of my job because a lot of my job is just being by myself cooking and writing, so I do really look forward to photoshoots and video shoots, and that obviously has had to stop in the past little while.

I also teach pasta classes. I really love teaching cooking, so not being able to do that has been a big shift, but I guess it’s forced me to move online a bit more than what I usually have felt comfortable doing. I really avoided doing many videos, but with no other option I guess I’ve gravitated towards at least doing something.

For me, that’s been videoing recipes and cooking online, which has actually been a nice change, and I’ve impressed myself with how I’ve done because I was really nervous and I’ve really avoided it in the past, so it’s forced me into an uncomfortable place, which has now become a bit more comfortable.

Having kids at home, it’s always going to be a little bit in between, so we have really slow days and really busy days, and we caved and started sending our four-year-old back to kinder, just because it was crazy. So now that he’s back at kinder, I feel like I’m getting a lot more work done, which is good, and I feel really lucky that writing recipes and cooking is something that is bringing people a lot of comfort doing this time, so I do have a lot of work on, which I’m really grateful for.

My husband’s a chef, so he’s been at home, which means I’ve thrown myself back into work, which has been nice. I guess trying to find a balance, I’m finding it a lot harder to focus and harder to finish tasks than I normally do because everything’s a little bit more chaotic than usual.

A big part of my job is grocery shopping and going to markets and talking to producers and going to the fish market and the butcher and the bakery, and not really being able to have that social aspect of it has affected me the most, I think, out of everything.

I also really just want to see my mum.

For me, I just keep reminding myself that this is really not a normal time, and I don’t have to achieve what I normally achieve in this time. Just giving myself space to be in this and ride through it.

MD: Another parent, designer and photographer Matthew Henry is now working from home, though has had all of his prospective work cancelled. Here, Matthew shares his thoughts on inspecting the things he can control, and the things that are outside of his control.

Matthew Henry: A lot of that time is spent helping my partner raise our two boys, which is really great because we need to stick to a really tight routine to keep them at their best. So until they’re in bed, it’s a really tight schedule.

What I’m struggling with is energy levels and motivation. It oscillates anywhere between being totally driven and working late into the night on the laptop on a task or being completely exhausted and having no energy at all, at the end of the day.

One of the things I’m finding really hard to deal with is there seems to be a real tension between how things were before this and there are a lot of knowns in which I could have a business plan or a marketing plan or a project plan or could navigate how that was going to roll out. There was a predictability to it.

Now, I just don’t know what things are going to be like on the other side of this. Whether the ambitions or the goals that I had are going to be possible or even desirable. So I’m finding that tension difficult.

What I find helpful within that is to try and separate the things that are within my control and the things that are out of my control. So the things that are in my control, I still try to work hard at those and be present to those and do what I normally would do and make plans as I would.

But things that are out of my control? Who knows what the global economy is going to be like at the end of this, or what creative freelancing work is going to be like on the other side of this. I try and just view that like it’s the weather.

We’re not worried about what the weather is going to be like in 2022 in June. So I try not to be worried about what the economy and employment prospects are going to be like in June in 2022.

MD: It’s also presented a time to reflect on the capitalist idea that our worth is tied to our productivity. Here is writer, journalist and critic, Neha Kale with her reflections.

Neha Kale: I guess in some ways COVID-19 hasn’t really changed my life that dramatically. As a writer who’s worked from home for the last two years, I’m often happiest alone and in my own head. Over the last few weeks, I’ve also lost a lot of work, like so many other writers and artists out there.

I’ve been worrying about family and friends [inaudible 27:13] overseas. I’m still working out what to do with the new blank spaces that have appeared in my life and I really miss the physical presence of the people that I love.

Like most freelancers, I struggle with downtime, and over the last few years I’ve been trying to do my best to challenge this capitalist idea that my worth is tied to how hard I work. Although I’m still keeping up my regular routine, I’m trying to be gentler with myself. Starting a little later, finishing earlier, and taking time to make elaborate home-cooked lunches.

I’ve been trying to relish long walks. I’ve been paying attention to the natural world as much as possible. I feel like small things, like the way the light changes during the day, the sound of birds in the morning, are bringing more joy and happiness that they have before. On Friday nights, I try to have a drink with friends over Zoom, and on Saturday nights I’ve been making an effort to watch a really good movie.

I feel like trying to keep a sense of ritual and occasion in my life is really anchoring me right now. For the last few years, I’ve been really craving time and space. I’ve been wanting a break from a culture in which creative survival often means producing relentlessly.

I guess on one hand I’m worried and uncertain about the future, about people who don’t have the things that I have, food, shelter, connection with friends, about what life will be on the other side of this. But on the other, I’m trying to really just take each day as it comes and take this time to reflect on who I want to be and what I want to put into the world on the other side of this.

MD: Many of us are flip-flopping every day, going through waves of feeling a rhythm or routine, and waves of chaos. Here’s comedian and host of Overwhelmed & Dying, Judith Lucy.

Judith Lucy: I actually hit the wall the first couple of weeks this was all happening. I just got hammered and masturbated every night, and that was it. And why am I saying night? I was just doing it whenever I had the opportunity.

It was a real win, the day I tidied out my freezer, because I thought I should buy meals and be putting them in here, and I found an old bottle of [inaudible 29:06] and the fact that I chose to throw that out instead of use it was just the best thing that ever happened.

I feel like I have got into a slightly more of a groove with it now. Whether that will last is anyone’s guess, but I think I’ve got into a little bit of a routine.

Normally, I’m such a good self-motivator because I’ve pretty much always worked from home, and so I just didn’t think this would be a problem, but all of a sudden sitting down and writing jokes just seemed like a complete waste of my time and everyone else’s.

So I totally understand that feeling of, should I write something, or should I just have another wine? And often the wine seems like a much better way to go at the moment. I wish that there was even a tiny, tiny part of what I’m about to say that’s fresh or even interesting.

But I think a trap I certainly know that I fall into, and I think a lot of people do and a lot of people are falling into it at the moment, is beating yourself up. I think it’s also very easy to go, oh my god, why haven’t I learned a language? And why haven’t I made my own sourdough? Why am I just getting hammered every night?

And I think we’ve all just got to accept the fact that this is some crazy shit that we’re all living through and if you don’t spring clean your house, if you don’t come up with a new vegetable garden, if all you have to show at the end of this is that you’re still in your right mind, I think that’s a pretty good thing to have achieved.

MD: Being kind to yourself doesn’t look the same for everyone. While for some, it does mean being okay with the feeling of chaos and distraction, for others it means leaning into some structure or routine or creativity for a sense of control, or even a small joy.

Just as many of you shared how you are finding it hard to create, many of you shared the reverse – that you are stepping into your creativity, or doing the things you’ve always said you wanted to do. For almost all of you, it’s this and-both feeling. You can be feeling both uncreative and feel the pull towards creativity. It can be both.

As one listener put it, “I have both more time and less time. I want to spend this time writing and working on my new business, so I need to re-negotiate work time and leave my husband to look after our toddler. It’s only been a week so far of this new routine and I’ve only been getting an hour a day to myself – but in that hour I have been massively productive with writing.”

Be it just an hour in the morning, many of you are doing things you’ve been putting off and now have time and freedom for, things like learning how to make sourdough, figuring out how to make the perfect pasta, painting and drawing, reading more books, de-cluttering, gardening, attending to personal projects, cooking, meditating, having a real breakfast, having day spas at home, watching Netflix, learning new skills.

As one listener said, “Homebound and isolated as we are, there is a silver lining. We now finally have the time to clean our Venetian blind slats, remove the fluff out of our window screens with tweezers, and learn to clog dance. And get reacquainted with our natural hair colour.”

For those with those with more time, which isn’t everybody, as one listener put it, “It’s more difficult to find diversions or excuses for avoiding projects.”

As another listener said, “Unhelpful expectations would be those that put pressure on you to be creative, or make you feel guilty for not being so, but unfortunately for some it’s their livelihood and they have no other option.”

A creative practice or business has provided a ballast for many listeners. Many of you said it brings personal satisfaction, an escape, helps you process what’s happening, takes your focus out of the digital world and the news cycle, it’s a release, stability, a continued sense of purpose and meaning, a structure to get you out of bed, or a coping mechanism, a precious gift.

As one listener said, “Both enjoying the creativity of others and exploring my own creativity is, for me, a way to relax.” And another said, “I think being creative can lift people out of the boredom of self-isolation if they are prone to that.”

It can be something to look forward to every day, and it can also have these deep roots. As one listener said, “Being seen and heard is also really important, as is connecting to others through creativity.”

The value of the arts was not underestimated, as one listener put it: “The arts can be a wonderful relief from all the tragedy around us. They remind us that beauty still exists. Writing helps me stay sane and so does music.”

We’ve seen creative business adapt in this time. Frankie Ratford is the creator of The Design Kids and also runs Designers Bootcamp, a travel company that runs eight bootcamps in exotic locations for designers to rebuild their careers. They had sold-out and promoted four of these bootcamps before things really unfolded with the virus, and Frankie and the team were stuck. As a bootstrapped business, they didn’t have the cash flow to refund all 80 participants, so Frankie had the daunting task of asking everyone if they wanted a refund or if they were happy to keep their booking for a later time.

The heartfelt response gave Frankie this newfound sense of hope for small creative businesses with heart, like hers, and I’ll let her tell you that, but she’s also had great success with creating a digital version of the bootcamps. So here’s Frankie Ratford.

Frankie Ratford: Yeah, it was really cute. I actually cried when I was reading the emails. It was really hard to open them. I think I had 64 emails on the chain, and I was like, I can’t do it, I can’t do it. Give me another wine. I got to Friday night, about seven o’clock, and I was like, okay, it’s time.

I started reading them and I was just bawling my eyes out because I was like, people are fucking cool. Our community is real and it’s beautiful and supportive and the emails have just been so… it’s been really eye-opening.

I think this time, reflecting back, it’s been really beautiful to see people step up. I think when you think about business, it can be about money and cashflow and spreadsheets and all that kind of stuff, but I don’t feel like that with my businesses. I feel like they’re from my heart, and that really shows. Getting all emotional.

MD: I personally found it heartening to hear how creativity can adapt in a crisis. Artist Tai Snaith has always had a broad creative practice from children’s books, writing, painting, ceramics, podcasts. So here’s Tai Snaith on embracing the flexibility of creativity during this time, even if it means getting less done in more time.

Tai Snaith: My creative practise has always been pretty broad, and I guess in this time of isolation, it’s really shown me how flexible my creative practise can be. The way that my routines changed is basically I’m now a teacher. Most of my work has been put on hold, which was in-person. Any workshops or talks or presentations I had to do are waiting until we can be in public.

I have two kids at home and I’m basically teaching them full-time and looking after them. So, really, I guess my creativity has proven that it can be flexible in a lot of ways and creativity can adapt in a crisis, which is quite amazing to watch. It can be applied to teaching your kids or making up a recipe from what you have in the fridge or making up a game that teaches them maths and English at the same time, so that you can get your emails done.

But also just really thinking about how my life is part of my work and being stuck at home for me has been actually quite nice and I’m really lucky, but I apply my creativity to every aspect of our life. In terms of the money side of work, I think sometimes you have to maybe sink a little bit before you swim. So I feel like, in the first week of being in isolation, I felt like I was sinking. I felt like I was invisible, and I wasn’t valid. I couldn’t keep up.

And now, I feel like my swimming instinct has kicked in and I found different ways to fit it in around teaching, so I’ve been making things late at night when there’s no noise and there’s no pinging alerts on your phone or your computer and you can have a bit of space to think.

I found myself thinking of ideas in the garden while I’m gardening, I found myself thinking of ideas first thing in the morning, which I never did before. So, interestingly, because I’m not getting up and rushing, I’m lying in bed and writing ideas down first thing in the morning.

So I think your creativity needs space, but it’s just finding that space amid a different routine. In some ways, I feel like it’s a lot stronger than before. I feel like restrictions on creativity can be a really positive thing.

MD: For writer, speaker, appearance activist and author of Say Hello Carly Findlay, at least three months of income has been lost, but other opportunities have arisen. Here’s Carly Findlay on new opportunities, as well as rediscovering daily delights.

Carly Findlay: I have a lot more time, which is really great. It feels like a luxury. Last year was very busy with the launch of my first book Say Hello, and this year I’ve definitely had more time to think, to write, to do some leisure activities, but not too many. I haven’t really been making any bread or any cooking that I haven’t usually done because I’ve been too busy trying to stay afloat and trying to make more money to make up for the money that I’ve lost.

So I’ve had a lot of time to write for the media lately, which has been wonderful. I have definitely found myself being more productive and also working towards a routine. I get up every day, get dressed for work, even if it’s freelancing, and I make myself feel good by wearing great clothes.

The other thing that I have been doing a lot of is being really productive in the area of grant applications. I’ve also been doing a lot of connecting with friends online, and I was saying to my husband last night that my social life at night has really been seeing lots of Facebook lives, Instagram lives, watching people chat, watching performances, and taking part in them as well.

I am finding it hard at times. I’m finding that I grieve for what might have been, but I’m trying not to dwell. I’m at high risk of contracting COVID because I’m immunocompromised and so I’m taking a lot of precautions in only going out when necessary, for exercise, or to the small groceries. My husband’s been going to the chemist and places that might be more at-risk for me, so I don’t have to do those. And we’ve been maintaining extra hygiene at home.

Just take it one day at a time. I think things move so quickly at the moment that it’s hard to know the future. Don’t beat yourself up about not being productive. Take this time to rest if needed. I’m finding that a lot of Zoom meetings are quite tiring and, especially the days I do half a day at Fringe and half a day freelancing, I’m really exhausted after all that because I fit in a lot of different types of work and I have to switch my attention.

I also think it’s really important to try and get outside when you can and don’t push yourself with exercise. If you want to take this time to get fit, do that, but don’t pressure yourself to become a marathon runner or anything like that.

And enjoy the time for leisure. One thing that I have found is that I really haven’t had a weekend. They’ve all blurred into one because I’ve been applying for so many grants and working to deadline with writing.

Now that some of that’s over, I’m really thinking about doing some kind of leisure things that I did in my childhood. I’m thinking about getting a doll’s house or playing with some Legos, so I really want to have fun with that.

MD: For photographer Mark Lobo, writing a list has been helpful and provides a sense of control.

Mark Lobo: Something that I usually do for both work and personally is to create a list of things that I really want to be doing. It doesn’t need to be work-related. It can be doing the laundry or cleaning the kitchen or whatever, but I find, regardless, just having a list of things that you want to get done in a way is really helpful. That way I don’t find I’m just reading the news or just watching TV or something like that and putting that to a bit of a schedule has been really good. Just going, okay, 10 to 11 today I’m going to do some yoga, 11 to 12 I’m going to vacuum.

So just doing that and having one or two things to achieve per day has just been a real and helpful routine to get me feeling normal.

MD: For Ebony Bizys, also known as Hello Sandwich, an Australian craft, artist, designer and blogger based in Tokyo, this time has been about exploring that fine line between giving herself grace for the days that go off track, but also leaning into projects to stay inspired. Here she shares a method that’s been working for her.

Ebony Bizys: What’s worked for me is trying to break down some larger goals into some smaller daily tasks. I find that’s really helped. For example, I’ve been using a meditation app called Balance to do a short daily meditation and even doing the tiniest session each day has really helped me.

I’ve also been tackling some Japanese language goals each day, whether it’s learning kanji or new vocab. I’m currently working on a [inaudible 43:53] of my daily life in isolation, so it’s nice to mark small things. Making coffee, where is my sourdough up to, what’s the supermarket like, how many people are at Shibuya, not that I go to Shibuya but there’s a live cam that I’ve been watching.

Just recording the strange and recording the every day.

MD: As a parent, writer Gabrielle Tozer, who we just heard from earlier, has a similar approach of doing the next right thing, inspired by the Frozen soundtrack.

Gabrielle Tozer: Having a toddler at home also means I’m listening to the Frozen 2 soundtrack on repeat and Kristen Bell’s character, Princess Anna, sings a song called ‘The Next Right Thing’ where she’s at breaking point. She tells herself not to look too far ahead, to break it down to this next one choice or step.

And I’m finding some small strange surprising comfort in that. So rather than saying to myself, I need to edit my book, which is 80,000 words and a mammoth task, I’ve started saying things like, let’s look at this one scene or these few paragraphs.

MD: Honor Eastly, a writer, podcaster and professional feeler of feelings, who we will hear from a little bit more shortly, has created a not-to-do list. Here’s how.

Honor Eastly: Okay, so one thing I would say that I’ve done that’s been really helpful is that every day I have something on my list, which is don’t do X until noon. I say X because it keeps changing. At first it was don’t look at the news until noon, and then I successfully did that, and I haven’t been addicted to the news, which I was at the beginning.

And then what I do is I just naturally transfer that to something else, so then it’s no Pinterest until noon or no whatever other websites you’ve been looking at until noon. And that’s been super, super helpful to get me into stuff and to not feel like all this other information is taking over my life.

That would be the one thing that I would definitely do again. Plus you just get to tick it off your list.

MD: Like many, artist Spencer Harrison has had to adapt his studio set up to his home environment and has some ideas on how to adjust your practice, too.

Spencer Harrison: At the moment, I get up in the morning and do yoga with my partner, then have a cup of tea and get down to work and do some drawing for a few hours. Then we have lunch at the same time together, so we get a routine of seeing each other during the day as well.

Normally after lunch, I go for a walk outside to get some fresh air, then back to my home studio for the afternoon to do a bit more drawing and maybe think about what I want to work on later in the week.

The main frustration I’m having at the moment is thinking about my art practise in terms of the bigger picture and what the possible outcomes could be. It’s hard to plan ahead of the future, to think about doing exhibitions, it’s hard to think about cashflow as well at the moment and thinking about work in general.

I guess I’m just trying to work with what I have here at the moment, which is my drawing materials and the space that I have. Use what you have at your disposal for your arts practise. Maybe that’s drawing your surroundings or drawing what you have with you, and who knows, it might be an exhibition that comes out of this at the end of it all.

MD: Throughout various points in the survey, many people remarked that their lives feel unchanged, or that they feel guilty for being okay, for now. For Mama Alto, who is in the fortunate position of starting a new job with Midsumma, helping others has become a creative outlet.

Mama Alto: Daily life since COVID-19 and all of the related restrictions have begun has been very strange. I was one of many people in the performing arts sector to see all of my upcoming bookings and gigs and projects really vanish overnight. But I was also, after a few weeks into the lockdown, very lucky to secure a job with an arts organisation.

Now that I’m in that position, of course, of having work, there is also a lot of guilt because so many of my colleagues and friends and loved ones in the arts sector find themselves out of work at the moment, and it’s very tempting to go into hopelessness and think nothing can be done, but every day I try to think of a couple of things I can do that can help support others in the arts community.

Some days that’s quite small. Some days that’s just sharing information with somebody about an opportunity or a grant or a job opportunity. Sometimes it’s sharing online about people’s Patreon accounts and fundraiser. And sometimes it can be in larger ways, such as finding ways to offer people paid work through my own practice or through what I do at the various arts organisations I’m involved with.

For me, it’s that idea that maybe all of those small acts of kindness can be our salvation during this time.

MD: For others, the lockdown has been a welcome relief to their anxiety or personal circumstances. Maybe you have read about the lockdown paradox, explaining why some people's anxiety is improving during the crisis. In one particular Guardian article, integrative counsellor Jasmine Cooray explains that “lockdown relief” has been especially pronounced in people who have high levels of internal pressure – People who are driven by keeping up appearances, productivity, showing up to everything, achieving lots, being visible, being there for everyone – they’ve found themselves feeling relief.

Those with mental health conditions have also reported this sense of relief. As one listener said, “The thing that has shocked me the most is how my experiences with depression and unemployment over the past few years has prepared me for this time. During days when I was really depressed from my full-time job, I would try to make sure to wake up early and work out, make my bed, put on a cute outfit and lipstick. I would try to write in my gratitude journal every day. There were many times when all I could write was 'I'm grateful for my physical health'. That was enough.”

As another listener explained, “Surprisingly, my anxiety that is often fuelled by falling into the comparison trap has eased. I don't put myself up against others because I know we're all in the same boat. I'm exercising more consistently than I used to and making good healthy food. It's like I have slowed down and adopted all these things I wanted to do pre-Corona and wasn't, and I realise now it wasn't time that was the issue but my attachment to being 'busy'.”

For Honor Eastly, who gave us that wonderful not-to-do list idea, over the last year, she’s experienced a physical health condition that really limited her mobility and this easing of pressure has meant that she finally feels on the same page has her peers. Here she is explaining that paradox.

Honor Eastly: To be honest, not a lot has changed in my daily life heaps. Last year, I got diagnosed with a physical health condition that just completely stopped me in my tracks and meant I couldn’t do a lot of work at all and I didn’t do a lot of leaving the house much either.

What was really difficult about being sick has been feeling like my life has been put on pause while everyone else’s wasn’t. For me, I had to totally get off social media and lots of things because it was too painful to see everyone else living their lives.

So this is a weird thing, but what’s been interesting about the pandemic is that everyone is sort of on pause, in a way. Or at least it feels that way. And I haven’t felt as depressed about what’s going on in my own life. So that’s been a very strange silver lining, and throughout the last while my health has improved, and I’ve really got super anal about my routine.

I definitely go through periods of being a stickler for things and I have a lot of processes and ways of tracking my time and ways of doing reviews with myself and I have a tracking system for tracking different things I want to do, whether it’s drink more water or stop procrastinating or whatever it is, and I track myself and at the end of the week I give myself a percentage score out of 100.

Last week, I got 101%, so I’m pretty proud of that, and so I’ve definitely gone way into the hyper management side of things because, for me, that quells my anxiety and, for me, what I’ve realised is that my stress levels are very related to my physical health, so that’s the thing I really have to get on top of.

One of the things I’m trying to remember, which is related to health stuff, is that we only have a particular capacity. There’s only so much you can get done and creative work is actually really hard. That’s the really difficult brainwork, and so it makes sense that you just can’t do a lot of it.

My advice would be to find a lot of self-forgiveness for yourself and get good sleep.

MD: For Frankie Valentine, a queer stripper, performance artist, and costumier, there’s also this feeling of a preparedness. A difficult pregnancy saw her withdraw in some ways and has helped her ease into this time.

Frankie Valentine: The beginning of my pregnancy was touch and go for the first few months and kind of escalated into this space where I had to go into isolation months before mandatory isolation happened. I had to pull out of all the shows that I had coming up and creative projects that I had coming up, so I think also being pregnant has made me gentler on myself than I would’ve otherwise been.

I was ready for my energy to turn inwards and to not be so present in the world. For example, to write more and to perform less. But to be honest, writing has been quite a struggle for me during this time, which is something I know a lot of my cohorts are feeling as well. The sense of, well, we have all this time now and it should be really easy, just sit down and write, but struggling to find the headspace to do that and struggling to find the words.

What’s been good for me is completely removing the pressure to be creative and allow myself to be playful with it when it does come up. To be creative just for the sake of it, like joining in the quarantine fashion shoots that have been flooding my feed, dancing for myself in my lounge room, being creative in my home in my space, not being focused on the outcome and just enjoying the process.

Being playful, which is something I would very rarely, if ever, give myself time to do. If I was focused on putting work out into the world, but we have all this time now and I’m lucky enough to have my basic needs met and to have the space to be playful and to see what bubbles up and comes to the surface, or to not. To stay in pyjamas and read a book for the day, if that’s what I’m feeling like that day.

But just giving myself space to just be has been the best thing.

MD: Many people have similarly enjoyed this space and quiet, when it’s afforded to them, to just be. Personally, as an introvert who lives alone, I’ve found a newfound energy from this untapped solitude.

As one reader also said, “I was never a social butterfly, so social isolation is something I have been in training for some time.”

And as another listener put it, “I don’t miss having to go to my loud studio or in-person meetings. I’m an introvert with a sensory disability.”

For some, this has been a time to reflect on the “doing”, the chasing. As one listener said, “A big thing I'm still chewing on is that BC (Before COVID) I was working so hard, pushing and rushing, and even with that effort I felt like I still couldn't quite keep up. Now AC (After COVID), I can see how many of the things I was doing, I didn't really want to do. The question is now, do I still have to do these things? Really? And if not, what can I let go of?”

For another listener, it’s been a time to thrive. “I didn't expect that,” they write. “I also didn't know how mentally exhausted I was from meeting so many obligations. The space and quiet has given me permission to rest and, by doing that, I've slowly wandered back to being creative again.”

In some instances, this lockdown has provided an opportunity to take the long service leave many creatives would never given themselves. Here is florist Melanie Stapleton of Celia Fox with her reflections on the slow down.

Melanie Stapleton: I really want to use this time to reimagine my business, but not in a productive way. In a what I want out of life, what I need, what I want things to look like when this ends, and how I want things to be different.

We have a routine. We have a four-year-old and a seven-year-old, so we get up, we yell until they get dressed, we also grumble at them until they finally finish their one piece of toast, but mostly our days have been really blissful, playing outside in our lovely little garden. I’ve been sowing seeds, I’ve been weeding, I’ve been mulching, I’ve been doing all this stuff, which has been really, really great.

I have had a pretty hectic work life over the last ten years, and I’ve been thinking about this as the long service leave that I would never, ever have given myself. I’ve been trying to not worry about money and my business, and I know that things have always worked out for us in the past, and I have no doubt that they will work out in the future.

I guess I know that so much of this stuff is out of my hands, and so I’ve really been conscious of just sitting with that and knowing that I don’t really have control over this and just getting comfortable with that feeling.

MD: For some, the space and the slowdown has equated to less guilt for not doing anything. Here’s Chaz Hutton, the illustrator behind the Instagram account Instachaaz.

Chaz Hutton: Okay. Woo! I’ve just realised this is the first I’ve spoken out loud in what has to be a few days. My name is Chaz Hutton, I draw the Instachaaz cartoon/comic on Instagram, and my routine is very much the same. Before this, I was working from home, living from home, like a lot of people living from home, and now it’s all happening, I’m still living from home and working from home, although now with less guilt when I don’t do anything, which is often.

So it’s actually, in a weird way, I’m slightly enjoying it. No one wants to hear the person who’s enjoying isolation, but I do feel a part of me is… it does feel a bit like we’re enjoying the retirement that our generation will be probably denied.

I did try to be productive when it all started happening. I didn’t go as far as making sourdough, but I did start thinking, yeah, cool, let’s get into this. And my overwhelming feeling was that everybody else was really unproductive, and I wanted to be a part of that as well, so I’ve completely failed on that.

MD: Frances Haysey, a writer who sometimes plays music just for fun, life also hasn’t changed that much since she works for herself and works from home, and there is this not-so-secret relishing as she prioritises the small, everyday rituals.

Frances Haysey: I’ve relished the opportunity to cancel things in my diary and not have to make stupid excuses for why I can’t go somewhere and can’t do something, so that actually has been quite blissful, apart from the universal worries about money and family and friends being safe and the like.

I’m finding at the moment that, first, I just really needed a break. I work really hard and I don’t have a balanced life, well, I didn’t have a balanced life, and first off, I’ve just really enjoyed being quiet and not necessarily being really productive. That’s been so nice.

And now I’m finding that I’m prioritising small routines within the day, so not looking at the day as a whole and I’m not really paying that much attention to what day of the week it is and what time of the day it is, but I’m more looking at going, if I can spend the first hour of my day, whatever time that starts, doing my witchy stuff, I call it. So the kind of morning pages, I’m doing The Artist’s Way, [inaudible 01:03:11] reading, I like doing that, burning some incense or candles, and just being outside and connecting with the day.

Sounds lame, but that really helps me combined with drinking lots of liquid. I get up and drink a bunch and get into my little witchy kind of time. I’ve never been able to meditate. Everyone always talks about meditating, and I hear and I’m like yes, I know, that’d be great, and I’d see people who are meditators and they’re really relaxed and centred all the time, and I’ve just never been able to do it.

So I finally made that a part of my witching mornings, and it’s really great. It really is. I do find, as I knew it would, of course, I do find it makes a difference just in making me feel a bit more calm and a lot more relaxed during the day, so that’s been the thing I’m most happy with.

And I find, at the end of the day, if I can have a walk, a bath, a nice meal, that really is enough for me at the minute. And in the middle of that, if I can manage to do some writing or something creative or artistic, then that, to me, is not just a win in terms of I’m not checking a box, but it makes me feel really great.

MD: Tess McCabe, a designer who had made the shift from employee to relaunching her business full-time just before the pandemic, is also enjoying the space.

Tess McCabe: I tend to have my best creative ideas during calm moments, or even when I’m forced to be bored, which doesn’t happen very often, except perhaps on holiday, so I’m trying to treat this time as a vacation from the former rhythm of everyday life.

I’m experimenting with some different habits that contribute to how I feel emotionally every day, like when to get dressed, what music to play at home, and how I take care of my health. These are things that I would probably have otherwise pushed aside due to busyness.

The challenging thing for me at this time is being so close, yet so far, from my people. I live and work and socialise within my local community a lot, so the physical distance is difficult to reckon with when, geographically, nothing has changed.

MD: As Tess McCabe touched on, it can feel like we are so close yet so far. While some of us are enjoying the solitude, it can tip over into loneliness. We are social creatures and, even though we have our friends at our fingertips, Zoom doesn’t really feel like the best substitute for a hug, or a spontaneous visit to a friend’s house, or sharing a meal, or a belly laugh on the couch next to the person you love.

Many of you say you miss people.

I was particularly moved by one of the survey respondents, a 94-year-old creative who wrote to me from an assisted living apartment. Here she writes, “We no longer eat in the dining room at tables for four. I looked forward to those mealtimes with newfound friends, some of whom I had eaten with for years. We had lively conversations. We are eating alone now in our apartments. Those who help us are friendly. They now wear masks. It is such isolation though. We can neither have visitors nor leave, even for routine visits to the doctor or dentist. We can walk outside on campus or in the halls, maintaining a six-foot distance. We are lonely. We are thankful that we have care and safety, but we are lonely. I’m a naturally happy, creative person, but now I struggle.”

Many of you said you were also struggling. Struggling with your mental health due to the lack of interaction or feeling exhausted from trying to have to entertain yourself and be so self-reliant.

As another listener said, “I miss hugs, reassuring smiles and just being present around other people. Phone calls and video chats are no substitute. I sometimes struggle to understand what people are saying and read the emotions, so conversations can be awkward and cause misunderstandings.”

Of course, there’s been glimpses of unparalleled human spiritedness. As one listener said, “People have now got a genuinely shared concern for one another. We are going back to basics and checking in our fellow neighbours, reaching out to friends near and far, past and present.”

And maybe a shift in language could be helpful. As another listener pointed out, “This new term, ‘social distancing’ is a misnomer. We really should be calling it ‘physical distancing’ because now is when we need to be more social than ever. Phones are things that work even when we are not in a pandemic and we should be taking advantage of them.

Amrita Hepi is an artist working in choreography and dance, and has found that the connections to community is actually what provided a sense of productivity and momentum previously, so she’s finding this difficult and here she shares her reflections, as well as some creative ways of coping with the distance.

Amrita Hepi: I think what’s changed about my daily life is that I have been really thinking about how sociability and openings and being amongst other people, whether it’s in a dance class or whether that’s going to an opening bridge [inaudible 01:08:17]. I’d felt exhausted and had feigned or protested that I needed more time for myself, but how this actually produces a certain type of productivity, which I think has been an interesting observation and I miss taking dance classes.

I also miss being around people in my community. It’s made me realise that I think doing things online or having a bodily practice online is quite difficult, which I think is probably a realisation that most have had.

I’ve also been having a lot of unconscious conversations with people in my head, which sounds crazy but, to me, it feels oddly sentimental. I understand that I’m having the conversation with myself, but there’s something nice about different fluctuating voices and hearing other people’s voices in my head, which feels oddly romantic.

I’ve also been thinking about the ocean a lot and making luxury plans for when I see my friends again, and then telling them that over the phone.

MD: These small habits and approaches, like having conversations with friends in your mind, are the small, good things that can bring delight and even joy to our days.

Many of you said you are paying more attention to these small things. As one listener said, “Life has become simpler and more focused in some ways, and much more uncertain in others. I've realised how much delight I take in the small things. A hot coffee, a conversation, touch, time to write and draw, a good book or movie, cooking, the sunshine.”

As another listener wrote, “It's easy to be grateful when things are going well. It's definitely more difficult during this time of stress, unknowing, and even danger. Finding the lid to a Tupperware container on the first try was something to be grateful for.”

Some of you have taken up identifying backyard insects, watching birds, or observing the neighbour's cat pounce on flies and trying to catch flying leaves.

One of you said it brings your comfort when you see life still moving around you. Here, the respondent says, “As I’m writing this, my neighbour across the road is mowing his lawn. It is the small daily life activities, trivial or not, that bring comfort and help us cope by restoring our sense of normality.”

People have discovered the joys of sending mail and look forward to receiving those that aren’t just bills and brochures. Some people are enjoying reading more, listening to audiobooks, experimenting with cooking, and feel more self-reliant than they had ever imagined.

Illustrator Juliet, behind The Juliet Report, is working on a book and has found an interesting way to substitute her need to explore.

Juliet Sulejmani: At the moment, I’m working on illustrating a book and that’s due in about a month, so I typically tend to hibernate at this stage of the process anyway. But, as you know, I love to explore and I love going outside, interacting with people, and seeing things, and touching things, and obviously I can’t do that at the moment, so that’s been a bit of a struggle.

My routine hasn’t really changed much, except that I have to make sure that I go out for a walk every day because I need to get that outside time in. Another way that I’ve dealt with this need to explore is I’ve been spending a lot of time on Google Maps. I love the street view.

At the moment, I’ve been spending a lot of time in Japan, so I grabbed the little yellow Google guy and I drop him into different streets and I’ve been exploring a lot of places that way, and I started drawing a lot of architecture, which I’ve always been into but I feel like I have more time for that kind of thing now.

MD: Artist, producer, art therapist, and founder of Dead Letter Club, Melanie Knight, has found it difficult to translate the connecting and the powerful work that she does to the digital space, so is for now observing and reimaging, and looking for the little things.

Melanie Knight: Everybody keeps saying this will pass, but the reality is that nothing is ever going to be the same, so I’m not sure exactly what’s going to pass because we’re in constant change. And we always were. What I do know is that things will pick up pace again and how we can prepare ourselves for that pace.

I believe in, and what I am doing, is that if I can just write one sentence or draw one squiggle or do one star jump or pick up one leaf and stare at it and consider it for a couple minutes, or stop on my walk and don’t take another step until I hear a bird call, then I know that I’ve moved through the day and will be ready, or as ready as I can be.

MD: Writer Lorelei Vashti has finally found a small pocket of time with coming up with a way to divide the weekends.

Lorelei Vashti: My home is my workspace. It’s my office already, I work from home, and my partner Jeremy also now works from home, so it was a revelation to realise, over these last few weekends, we can both have some time away from the kids on weekends.

What we have done successfully is, on the weekend day, we’ll spend time as a family until about 11am and then one of us will go away somewhere in the house, it’s not like we can go anywhere else, but we can go for a walk, we can read a book, we can have a bath. Whatever. We can disappear from the kids and have three hours to ourselves to do anything. Exercise, whatever.

And then three hours goes by and then we swap, and I cannot even begin to tell you what this break from the kids has done just to help my brain and to give me hope for the future that I may one day have thoughts and ideas and creative output again.

MD: Collectively, there seems to be a bigger capacity for noticing. James Lemon is an artist making sculptures and functional ceramics, and has slowed down during this time and, remarkably, sort of rendered the ordinary quite extraordinary.

James Lemon: I’m currently sitting on my couch. Next to me is my dog, who is curled up in the shape of a small croissant. We’ve been spending a lot more time together, which has been, quite frankly, very lovely.

Because I’ve not been teaching from my studio, I’ve taken the opportunity to slow it down a little bit and not be so productive, as what I’m sure a lot of other people are being at this time. I think that, when you work for yourself, it can be difficult to manage your time in a way that’s actually sustainable, and so what I’ve done is I’ve taken opportunity of this no pressure to get anything done, to not get anything done.

Leading up to lockdown, I basically had worked for months on these two shows, and then almost immediately the exhibits had to be taken down, so that was a bit sad, but also I was, in some way, grateful, because it meant that I’ve been able to really slow down and reassess where I’m at in my life and my relationships and really consider what’s valuable to me.

Something that I’ve realised isn’t valuable is technology, contrary to popular belief. Something that I require for my general mental health and wellbeing is close relationships with people, and although phones and whatnot can allow you to have some sort of contact, I think face-to-face contact without phone distraction has ended up being a lovely thing to reacquaint myself with.

I’ve read. I’m a very slow reader. I’ve got Attention Deficit Disorder, so sometimes it takes me a while to read things, so I frequently reread pages, but that’s good. I’ve got three-quarters of the way through a book, which is fantastic. It’s taken me two years to get to the halfway point, so, look, I’m on the home stretch, which is really lovely.

I’ve cooked a lot. That’s been very pleasant. I originally came into this COVID time with the intention of coming out with a muscular, beautiful frame on the other side, but that’s certainly not the case. I think all this homemade pasta has really taken its toll. Not that I care, really.

I’ve watched a lot of nature docos, that’s been very lovely. I’m very into the whole planet thing. It’s really post all the terrible bushfires at the start of the year. It’s really allowed me a bit of time to grieve in some way for that kind of massive loss, which I think has been, I think, quite important. I really hope that other people have been able to do that as well.

I was thinking at the time, when loss like this occurs, there’s normally some sort of funeral, and there doesn’t seem to be that kind of recognition for that loss, so I hope, coming out of this, people have a re-energised or reawakened sense of how important these things are.

I’ve had a few baths. That’s been really nice. I love a bath. That’s my alone time. I meditate, I read, I drink a bottle of wine. You know, all the good stuff.

Ultimately, someone looking into this life might see a very boring COVID experience, but I’m actually quite grateful for this little bit of peace, where I’ve been able to find it. It’s been very lovely.

MD: Movement was also a common way for people to find delight in the everyday. Here’s Amrita again, with a delightful way to both move and appreciate the small things.

Amrita Hepi: Something that I’m trying to remember for myself, you really need to get out of your head and go for a walk. Another word of advice is try kite flying as a performative act. It’s a nice way to have distanced conversations or to feel like you’re having an activity in the public realm. It doesn’t replace having a cocktail, but it’s still quite nice.

MD: Comic artist, author, and graphic recorder Sarah Firth has been taking what she coined “state of emergency walks”.

Sarah Firth: Because we’re currently in a state of emergency, which is stressful and challenging, and I wanted to create an opportunity to get back into a mindful, present, emergent state. So what I do is I will leave the house with a notebook for about an hour and just allow myself to walk and look and think and draw and take notes and create this emergent cartoon story.

Paying attention to what’s coming up inside of me, what I run into, what I notice, and it’s really playful and fun and I have no idea what’s going to happen ahead of time, so there’s something invigorating and delightful and joyous about it, and those emergency walks have been really important, actually.

MD: But it’s not always easy to exercise. As one reader put it, “I always say I will exercise but I never do it. It's just hard, I lived a very fast lifestyle, so I guess my body just wants to relax.”

Of course there’s also the little unwanted habits that are sneaking into our days – spending too much time on news channels, infinitely scrolling through Reddit or Instagram, spending too much time on dating apps, stress eating, feeling unfocused, feeling sleepy, losing track of days, drinking too much, struggling to put on pants.

Many people feel stuck on the long and boring tasks. As one listener said, “More time goes into house chores than my wanting to do more sketching.”

Another listener feels bad about the focus of their attention. “I get stuck on these small problems and feel locked on and start thinking in circles, and I feel like I’m being petty to be worried about clothes and hair right now.”

Even though there are the annoyances or the habits that we want to get rid of, or the bigger anxiety, amongst these little things that provide us comfort, amongst the ordinary, amongst the groundhog feeling of our days, amongst the rollercoaster, there are also big questions we’re asking ourselves, and of the world.

Some of you asked questions like:

How do I honour the sick and the deceased? Even while I'm enjoying the downtime, how can I bear witness, most effectively and compassionately, to this tragic moment in history?

How do I stay connected to my creativity once the world rights itself again? How do I not get sucked right back into the corporate world and not go back to worrying about things that seem so trivial right now? How do I keep honouring, exploring and nurturing my creative practice?

While many of us don’t have the answers, there are new thoughts, appreciations, and shifts and new awakenings bubbling.

As one listener pointed out, “The world is not only just waking up to the idea that those who we most need in a crisis are not paid well, such as teachers, nurses, cleaners, childcare workers.”

As another listener put it, “The nature of everything we know is about to change. We will grow in new directions because of loss and pain caused by this unseen killer.”

Prue Aja is a photographer who is now working “on” the business rather than in it, due to not being able to have direct contact with people, and here she shares a reflection on realising how much we will carry and how we can maybe let go.

Prue Aja: One of the opportunities that has come out of this is realising how much we carry in our everyday lives. As we’ve slowly had to take off the layers of things that we were doing every single day in our life and realising how much we were actually carrying. Especially as a business owner and how I used to rush around so much and have a full diary.

It's been really nice to just stop and have free time to read a book, listen to music, smell the roses, and appreciate life again.

MD: And perhaps most of all it’s important to remember we will be together again soon. Something Peter Drew reminds us of.

Peter Drew: It’s a weird thing, that a crisis like this does focus your anxieties. It organises them. It puts it all in one box, and it gives everyone a shared sense of responsibility. I feel united with everyone in a way because we’re all going through this thing.

Because there’s always people who are suffering, but now there’s this feeling of everyone’s attention is on the people who are suffering, and there’s something good about that in that it feels like we’re all together in some way, and I do like that and I hope we don’t lose that as soon as this thing is over. I hope this makes us better in the long run.

MD: So there is a hope that this makes us better.

In the meantime, some of us might just need to feel better, and so I hope this routine collage, this small slice of creative life, made you feel just a little better in yourself, in your creative work, in your doing or your not doing, in your connections, in your loneliness, in your solitude, in your busyness, or in your stillness.

The final question of the survey was asking participants to share what advice they are trying to remind themselves of during this time, to maybe make themselves feel a little bit better.

So to end, here is a poem I composed using just one line from each of your responses.

Be kind to yourself.

We are used to worrying about assignments, keeping jobs, loved ones, going out with friends;

Everything but ourselves.

Take care of you. Rest.

Know that it’s okay to withdraw.

Know that it’s okay to not always be productive.

Let go of expectations.

Grieve.

Ride out the wave, so to speak.

Keep swimming.

Keep moving.

If you don’t know what to do next, do the next right thing.

Leave the phone in another room.

Don’t do more than you can handle.

You are doing enough. You are enough.

Live day by day.

Learn the names of the trees and flowers in your area.

Sing, sketch, stretch, be silent for some time. Create something, music, art, whatever.

Did you know you can go out without even opening your front door?

Keep an open mind.

Be flexible.

This isn’t forever.

It's going to be okay.
Remember to trust.

Your life is not on pause.

Life goes on.

Enjoy the moment.

It's a bit like having a small baby.

And this will pass.

This will pass.

Thank you for listening to Routines & Ruts. It’s been an incredible honour to spend time with you to share these reflections and to hopefully show that there is no prescription here. There’s no one way to navigate our creative lives during this time, let alone our entire lives.

Maybe it helps to focus on your work or your loved ones or the people most at need and vulnerable right now. Maybe it helps to focus on the questions, or the future, or just this one small moment in front of you.

A very special thank you to you each of you who shared your experiences and advice in the survey. You made this slice of creative life possible. And to each of the creatives who also generously contributed a lovely audio snippet.

Thanks again for listening to this special edition of Routines & Ruts, and remember to celebrate the process as much as the outcome, the ebb as much as the flow, the ordinary as well as the extraordinary.

This will pass, and it will be different.

But it will pass.