Quarantine and How I've Been Dealing with It

This quarantine seems to be getting everyone stir crazy.

I know I have been. Several people have messaged me that feel the same. So I wanted to update everyone on how I have been dealing with it.

It seems like right now all I have is free time. I’ve been laid-off on furlough from both of my part-time jobs, meaning that when this all returns to normal, they’ll give me my job back. But now I don’t have that excuse to keep me from things. My main responsibilities now are to keep up and catch up on school work and also catch up on my backlog.

I believe it is easy as a creative individual to keep moving forward, however, sometimes you have to remember to look back too. So, now is a great time to go through your previous photo shoots and edit them and maybe release them. Or if you’re a crafter, how many projects have you started but then kept saying you’ll finish them later? NOW IS THAT TIME!

Are you struggling to find new content to post on social media? Post old stuff! Chances are there are photos in your backlog that are climbing to see the light of day.

Don’t know how to edit your photos? Now is the BEST time to learn! There are a wealth of photography tutorials on youtube. If you don’t know where to start, that’s okay! Also, Facebook Groups can be helpful to seek peer feedback or ask questions. Just don’t take every critique personally! Most of the time its opinions anyway.

Alternatively, if photography is tiring you out, now is a great time to learn something NEW or do something you’ve never done before. For example, I have always wanted to explore painting. I had never tried painting on a canvas before, but Hobby Lobby was having a sale on Canvases, so I took the opportunity to grab some. The other night, I was having a hard time focusing on my photo work, and my eyes were tired of looking at a screen, so I decided to take a break and try painting.

Here was my result:

I have always wanted painted portraits of my pets in Renaissance clothing. So, I decided to try my hand at it. I think it turned out a lot better than I thought it was going to! It was quite an adventure, I even mixed a lot of the colors myself. It was definitely a time-consuming process, and I loved doing it! It really brought me back to my roots.

The real key to beating this Quarantine is to just go with the flow. Check-in with your loved ones, talk on the phone, video chat, or even a simple text will really help satisfy your socializing needs until you can be with them in person again. Don’t be afraid to reach out first either, if you’re nervous about bothering them— they might be thinking the same thing! But it’s important to remember that we are all going through this together.

Let yourself just BE. If your brain says it feels like playing video games, then play video games! Want to read a book, do it! As long as you’re not harming anyone and you’re following the laws and quarantine, now is a great time to rediscover yourself!!!