Whether you remain in quarantine or not, this recent set of months (nearly a year in CA where I reside) could have been monumentally productive… or not.

Did You Just Do It?

Did you devolve into obsessive COVID worry, attempting to get on a list – any list – to receive a vaccination, no matter what company propagated and marketed it?

Did you obsess on the weather, another variant that was not within your control? Did you load up on #quarantinecuisine or starve yourself witless?

Did you spend endless hours on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter – or write personal notes to family and friends? Did you Netflix, watch old movies or stream endless sports? Engage in obsessive rumination?

Which rabbit hole did you go down?

Young children daydream a lot, so I felt no guilt when I devolved into my four-year-old self for hours. In fact, since I am an endlessly playful person, perhaps my arrested development helped me endure the monotomy. To remain guileless and filled with wonder – and easily entertained in the Zoom-o-sphere – has been my alter-ego, COVID-coping self, during much of quarantine.

I just did it, without thought. I felt safe.

Years of schooling – and a tendency toward perfection – has allowed my goal-directed, task-oriented self to reign as needed, such as days when I blog, to be heard in the outside world.

Americans puritanically tend to value task-oriented, just do it thinking. This elevated status may not be the best pose for writers, however. Letting one’s mind wander, as children’s minds do, so in the moment they are. I wrote oodles of short stories while in quarantine – enough to fill a book!

My COVID-writings were more spontaneous, creative, and emotional! I escaped the control of homestay!

https://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com