“I’ll bet that wasn’t what you were thinking of when you talked about creativity, Nushin!” said one participant on my Reframe October call. It certainly wasn’t. The talk had turned to creative new forms of scamming people, distracting them while stealing their credit cards, calls that conned old folk to pay money or letters that tried to get you to give details of your bank account. And indeed, as the unemployment figures rise in the UK, the accompanying rise in crime is probably almost inevitable. It is certainly one form of creativity. As the poster on the Tube would warn commuters on their way to work, “Some people are already at work.”
It did make me think of the ability to see opportunity where others only see problems, and whether you put that to use in criminal activities or in new career opportunities is up to you.
We were talking about creative ways of coping in a crisis. In Chinese, the word crisis, as John F Kennedy said, is made up of two characters, one meaning danger, and the other opportunity. Which we focus on is up to us.
There was a certain autumnal gloom, rather than the more upbeat summer calls, as a result, no doubt, of more looming lockdowns and rising infection numbers. Admittedly, we were women on three different continents, but everyone globally has begun to realise that this is no sprint, but a marathon.
Perhaps for you those early lockdown plans to do things differently have ground to a halt, but that is a good time to reassess what exactly you could do to re-energise your life creatively. It is often in the simple, small shifts that we can make the most impact, and they are not difficult to do. It is about bringing consciousness to your surroundings.
Most of us are now used to doing exercise classes online, but you could always shake it up a bit. Try one that you wouldn’t want to do in public in case you didn’t manage. What’s the worst that could happen? You collapse on your couch! If you normally do the yoga and Pilates style of class, go for Zumba or an energetic squats class, or if you like getting your pulse racing, now is the time to tune into meditation, and see what that does for you. You could take your daily walk in a different direction and explore another part of your local area.
Have you got out of the habit of going to exhibitions, or the theatre? Does meeting in real life seem too difficult or too fraught to do? Look at what you filled your days with pre-lockdown and see if you can tweak things now to regain some of that. Cooking from a new recipe, taking a virtual tour of an art gallery, tuning in to a Ted talk or even having a cuppa together over Zoom can go a long way to bringing a bit more sunshine into your life.
Connecting globally has certainly been a big plus for many of us, with regular calls to far-flung family and friends. One woman said she felt she was probably more connected now to her son in Australia than if he had been in London, while I know I have discovered family I didn’t know existed when a relative set up a monthly call. It inspired one of us to set an intention to contact family that she hadn’t seen for a long time.
Remember, as the days get shorter it’s even more important to make a conscious plan for keeping our mental wellbeing high. What three little things could you do differently today that would start making life feel a bit sunnier?
Leave a suggestion or a comment below, and you could inspire someone else.
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