Focus and Productivity in the time of COVID-19

Are you feeling guilty because you aren’t utilizing this self-isolation time to paint your masterpiece, write the great American novel, learn to speak Swahili?

“Rest Your Mind 2” 11”x7” Acrylic/china marker on paper.©Amy Guion Clay 2020 (email me for purchase info)

You are not alone, my friends.

Initially, when the coronavirus forced us inside, many saw this opportunity to finally take on all those projects hanging out on the back burner. At last, yes! I now will have the time to do yoga/paint/write everyday!

And then the long awaited time arrives - and, nothing. We hem and haw and do everything BUT that thing we had longed to do.

Sound familiar? I know.

I’ve written about resistance many times (see my review of The War Of Art here), but this post is not THAT. Yes, I’m a big believer in discipline. It’s necessary sometimes to push through excuses, distractions - anything that keeps you from your creative expression.

But this post is about pausing, slowing down, and finding nurturing rest in the silence of this deeply profound life-changing time we are experiencing.

Rest Your Mind 3. 11”x7” Acrylic on Paper ©Amy Guion Clay 2020

The DO-ing trend has been ramping up for many years - especially with the proliferation of online productivity hacks and side hustle gurus. The promise of get rich passive income has spawned a million webinars and supposedly can be achieved in a 4 hour work week. These false promises have us spinning our wheels, thinking if only we can get the formula right we can finally relax.

The busy-ness of life has taken us over and we are exhausted, depleting the planets resources, our own adrenals, and bringing our world to the brink. We don’t know how to just BE. The yang of doing has obliterated the yin of being.

This had to stop (at least slow down), and nothing short of a pandemic would do it.

So here we are. Through forced isolation, we are called to recognize the importance of fallow time. Farmers know to leave some of the land unsown to restore nutrients to the soil for future crops. This allows for the germination of new growth. No field can be plowed non-stop year after year.

This is true for the creative process. Yes, we can crank out work 24/7 with the sheer force of will. But to go DEEP, to allow the space and stillness to sprout new work with dimension, authenticity, insight. This is the opportunity I see before us.

Yet there is still this intense pressure to do, do, do. To utilize this time to PRODUCE. Believe me, I feel it too.

Rest Your Mind 4. 11”x7” Acrylic/graphite on paper
©Amy Guion Clay 2020 Sold.

Yet what calls me most strongly during this time, is a need to go inward, to examine my motives for this continued pressure to perform. And who am I creating for anyway? How do I really want to grow my art, my life, my relationships? Who do I want to become as we move into this new era?

Because what is coming, is not what has been. I believe we (as humans) are being called to a bigger purpose than what has formerly been an obsessive need to produce for production’s sake. We live in an age that says, to paraphrase Descartes, I produce, therefore I AM.

So for now, I just want to say be gentle with yourselves. If you are struggling with focus and inertia, acknowledge the impact of this pandemic on your creative, emotional, and physical sense of being-ness. Allow the rest, allow the silence, the stillness to nurture your body, mind and soul.

This will lead to new growth as Spring approaches, and the creative work that is ready to break ground, will be fresh, raw and an honest reflection of this time of monumental change.