Coping with Creativity

Coping in the time of Covid

Well hello lovely human. I just want to start of this email with a huge bit of gratitude. Thank you for being here. Thank you for taking some time to read my words. Thank you to those of you who also respond. I absolutely love reading the insights that come up for you and the intentions you set for yourself. 

As I mentioned in a previous email, I have a dear friend helping me with rebranding my EstyUbuntu website and how I show up on my different platforms online. One of the things that has come up from this experience is me doing a deep dive into why I created this newsletter. The answer was super convoluted at first. I had words and words of reasons. But when I really boiled it down to my why, it is to connect and create intimate impact. 

So, again, I say thank you for being here. Thank you for connecting with me in a sea of virtual connections that feel super forced, I hope that I can bring a bit of intimate impact into your day, week, or month. I hope I can remind you to choose ease. I hope that I can remind you to rest, reflect, and be gentle with yourself.

In today’s newsletter, I’m going to share a bit of my mindful musings on coping creatively. I’ll go into my Covid experience and share some of my favorite tools that I use to help soothe my nervous system. I’ll share a bit about the newest episodes of my podcast, where I interview creatives and we talk about their creative journeys. Finally, I’ll share a bit about my upcoming events this year (psst… there may be an in-person thing happening!!!!).

Coping with Creativity

In 2019, I had a really intense motorbike accident, which required me to have skull surgery. During recovery, a lot of people asked me if I was writing through the process. Simple enough assumption because journaling is my go to healing tool. Writing is my go-to creative outlet. 

Journaling is my go to healing tool.

Writing is my go-to creative outlet. 

I was ashamed to admit that the answer was no. I thought as a writer, I needed to be writing, even in a time where my brain was foggy, and my body was recovering. I feared that even a few days away from my craft that I’d no longer be considered a writer or a creative. It took me awhile to release the judgement I had about myself during those first few months. It took me even more time to realize that I was creating during that time, it just looked very different to what I would normally consider my creative practice. 

Coping in the time of Covid

Fast forward to present day. A few weeks ago, I finally came down with the thing that has kept us in a panini since 2020. When I first felt the tickle at the back of my throat, I assumed it was due to my body adjusting to having air conditioning again. Lo and I finally decided to make a few adult purchases for the house that we’ve been in since mid 2019. This is the longest house either of us have lived in outside of our family homes. We recently got a new IKEA and *whew* let me tell you, it took everything for me to not ask them to just send me the whole living room display. 😂 Anyways, back to the tickle in my throat. About halfway into the next day, I had a fever and a headache. I was meant to meet some friends for a dance class down south, but I knew even if I didn’t have the dreaded Rona (cue we don’t talk about Bruno music), I’d need to sit this class out. The next morning, I felt body aches all over and could barely get out of bed. A nurse from the local clinic came over in full biohazard gear and took my rapid test, not surprisingly the results came back positive. In that moment, I felt both relieved and sad. Relieved that I finally got the thing. My friend joked that I was in the 5% of the world that hadn’t had it. Even my husband had it awhile ago and still my results came back negative. I felt sad because all the fun things I had planned over the next few weeks were no longer an option for me. We cancelled our plans to go up north for the Balinese New Year, Nyepi, and I cancelled all in person plans I had until after the holiday. Fortunately, Lo had the whole next week off of school for the holiday and all of our meals for the next 10 days had just been delivered by the lady who does our meal prepping. So although I was going into isolation, we had all the basis covered to enjoy the time at home. 

Like after my accident, I didn’t really have the mental power to meet myself on the page as I lovingly do each day. I didn’t really have the desire or energy to create for my coaching clients. My body and mind shut down for a bit and instead of “pushing through”, I surrendered and listened. 

I believe that we are all deeply creative beings. And in times of crisis and chaos, we can access different creative flow states to help us cope. To help us feel grounded and to help soothe our nervous systems. An important thing I had during this time of crisis, that I didn’t have last time, was my wellbeing protocols and tools in my creative practice that I’ve experimented with during different energy levels and time constraints. 

I believe that we are all deeply creative beings. And in times of crisis and chaos, we can access different creative flow states to help us cope.

As a rest and intuitive coach, I’ve walked many of my clients through an activity called wellbeing protocols. And best believe I’ve walked myself through it as well. The key to this is creating the protocols for yourself when you are not in a state of crisis. The second key is to actually experiment with them. Test them out. This is not a one-size fits all type of practice. It is unique to you and your nervous system. Why it is important to experiment with different types of creativity and creating access to tools, so when you’re in the state of crisis, you don’t have to waste time or energy trying to devise a plan to soothe your nervous system to to give space to your anxious energy. 

Here are a few of the creativity practices that actually work for me when I am in low energy states or my nervous system is jacked (not a clinical term, but I know some of y’all resonate). 

Ways to be creative in times of chaos

• Meditative Coloring- Like just crayon or pencil to the page and just let it be messy. Shade in something outside of the lines. Doodle. For me, I find so much solace in this practice when I’m not feeling well. It’s medicine. I don’t have science for this, but I do have a memory, back when I was a girl and I would get sick, my mom would always do 2 things, buy me a coloring book and a new pack of crayons. And she would build me a pillow and blanket fort. I don’t think this was a conscious thing that she did, but I imagine that the fort was to keep me safe and warm while she went to work. This is the practice I turned to after my accident. It is the practice I turned to again when I had covid. I don’t have any daily love letters from those few days of intense symptoms, but I do have a ton of colorful pages that aren’t for anyone to see but me. 

• Dancing- this one wasn’t easy for me to access during the first few days when I had body aches. But my symptoms shifted daily. One day it was body aches, the next it was a headache, and headaches for me are easily sent away with dancing. Barefoot in my garden, afrobeats turned up and away I went, moving the stagnant energy up and out to the heavens to evaporate. This is a creative practice I haven’t always known about or even realized I had access to. I just assumed it was something I’d do in the clubs or for a workout. But having met a lot of magical creatives over the years, I’ve learned a lot about the art of dance. If you’ve never tried ecstatic or therapeutic dance, I highly recommend giving it a chance. I was a skeptic at first. 

Other wellbeing protocols I use:

• Yoga Nidra

• Connecting via voice notes- ain’t nobody trying to text when they’re sick. 

• Delegating tasks

• Rescheduling work 

• Epsom Salt baths 

• Papaya Green Leaf Juice- magical medicine for immune recovery 

• Restorative Yoga- using all of the props

• Turmeric, lemon, ginger, and cinnamon tea

• Binging Love is Blind season 1 and Season 2- what is this mess? Who else is ready for The Lachey's next ratchet project: The Ultimatum? 

• Scrolling on IG and posting all the things

• Healthy meals prepped before- this is something I highly recommend if you can afford it. Outsourcing this has been a game changer in so many ways.

I’m happy to announce that I’m free of symptoms and had a negative result after my 10 days of isolating. I hesitated about sharing about this experience, there are so many heated discussions that come up about what to do when you get it? How to prevent it? But I really just felt called to share about the ways I coped. I’d love to hear about your own creative coping practices? Send me a message if any of mine resonated or if you have any you’d like to share! 

Ok, I’ll end this epically long musing with a fun update: Lo and I have started the 75 Hard challenge, I’ll do a write up about it next month! We are on day 10 and I’m surprisingly really enjoying the process. I have some thoughts on why I’ve actually remixed the name to 75 Hard with balance & ease. Stay tuned!

With love & Gratitude,

Esty