Many who read me (not that many — wish more did) and those who’ve met me personally know I’m often a Captain Obvious kind of fellow. Yeah, I’m perfectly willing to admit I’m certainly not the sharpest tool in the shed or Crayola in the box.

So this next observation will probably not come as a surprise to most of you. What will more than likely surprise you is just how long it took my thought process to get up to speed with yours.

This morning as I was perusing all the wonderful articles from a bevy of stellar writers, I kept seeing COVID-19 this, quarantine that, still can’t find toilet paper this, shelter-in-place that.

COVID, COVID, COVID.

It only took a couple of minutes of this before I realized just how tired I was getting reading about this d*mned virus. And I wondered why. Why can’t we all write about something else for a change?

And then it hit me.

We’re all writers who often write about things going on around us every day. We use the hustle and bustle of the city, the lazy, slow-rolling countrysides, nature walks, marathon runs, work at work, work at home, and a plethora of worldly stimuli as inspiration.

As creatives, we often write about this crazy world of ours and how it evokes a multitude of emotions and situational happenstances, which become perfect setups for our unique perspectives.

But now, the only inspiration we have is what’s locked up inside our hearts and heads or what we read about. We’re secluded with maybe just our pets, or with our family or significant. And it’s okay/not okay because we genuinely believe we are not only saving ourselves through seclusion but maybe, just maybe, saving the lives of others.

And we’re socially distanced from our families which worries and frightens us, especially when we don’t hear from them for a day or two. Or even worse, they don’t immediately answer our calls or Zoom requests.

If that’s not bad enough, a lot of us always draw inspiration from all the exterior things and people interaction going on around us, and now we have to adjust to the new normal of anti-socialism.

And for some of us, this kind of adjustment is hard as h*ll.

So we while away the hours, days, and weeks trapped inside the confines of our apartments, condos, or houses. Each day we try to enjoy a little sun (it’s been raining for three straight days here) in our backyards if we have them, and we stare at our computer screens and the inside walls of our home.

Hmm. Was that dust bunny hanging from the lamp there yesterday?

COVID-19 has, for a lot of us, taken a large part of our inspiration away. And so we write about it. We write about the “cabin fever” we’re experiencing because we’re now being forced to play the hermitage game. We write about the frustrations of having to shift from being mommy and daddy to becoming Mrs. and Mr. homeschool teachers.

We write about the panic and anxiety attacks we’re experiencing when we think about the death toll and wonder if or when we’re going to become a statistic.

We write about how, although a lot of us are introverts, we’d prefer the opportunity to choose our own moments of introversion instead of this virus cramming it down our throats.

It’s impossible to believe and even more improbable to understand that I’m just now figuring this out. But this planet of ours, which is doing its best to kill us, has now forced all of the creatives in the world to get more, well, creative.

And we will, and we do.

So I hope each of you will forgive me for stating the blatantly obvious here. The reason we are getting a daily dose of COVID related pieces is that COVID happens to be our world right now.

Writers write about things that affect them, things that spur thoughts and ideas which we’d previously never thought about. Trust me, I don’t believe a lot of us ever thought we’d be writing pieces about this kind of pandemic impact.

But then hey, you have to write what inspires you wherever and whenever you find it, or it finds you. Nowadays, because of COVID, we may only have to walk from the living room to the kitchen to find it.

There’s always a silver lining, folks.

Thanks So Much For Reading

Let’s keep in touch: paul@pgbarnett.com

© P.G. Barnett, 2020. All Rights Reserved.