My thoughts and experience thus far during this CoronaVirus Pandemic and how it’s nudged me to finally start a Patreon Page.
Well, here we are…Week two on lockdown. First and foremost, I truly hope you are feeling ok.
This is not another “This is how our company is handling COVID-19” email. I mean why do I care how my website plugin developer is dealing with this? I don’t have new art to show you this week either.
What I do want to do here, is just be real with you…person to person…parent to parent…creator to creator…
Being An Introverted Artist During All This
Being an artist, I’ve always sort of thrived on having periods of seclusion. So I gotta be honest here…the isolation part of this, I’m doing pretty ok with so far. I have this introverted dude that lives in my brain that finds comfort in this. Anyone else feel me on that? ??
For my fellow creatives and over-thinkers and life-long learners and the curious and the easily distracted amongst us…Assuming/hoping you are healthy right now, I hope you, like me, are using this down-time as a blessing in disguise.
It’s not often (ever) that we have appointments and meetings and schedules wiped clean like this. One of the silver linings of this situation is certainly the amount of time we have to think and create and learn and meditate and ponder. Moments like these offer us a gift of contemplation. When the noise of the outside world quiets, we can really focus on what and who really matters to us. Maybe we needed this reset.
For those of you, like me, who don’t have 9 to 5 jobs…who work for yourself or have been laid off or have seen business and income dwindle, this time is a reminder that when all that is pulled away (even temporarily like now), we see what’s left. Our health, our family and friends, our interests and passions, our faith and love and hope.
Are There Lessons to be Learned during this Pandemic? Or a Deeper Meaning?
Things will get better. We will get past this. We’re already seeing promising signs in the economy and the markets. We’re seeing countries like China and Singapore who were hit early start to level out that curve that everyone keeps referencing. As long as we stay at home and don’t go rogue and ignore the warnings, we’ll be ok.
Hopefully, we’ll learn some lessons from it. Times of great crisis brings us together. For those of us who remember 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy, there was a sense of togetherness and unity that superseded partisanship and race and religion and geographic differences. It was beautiful. At times of survival is often when we become most human/humane.
And you know what? With the election approaching and division felt around every corner, maybe we needed a little reminder that we’re humans and spiritual beings first and foremost. We’re more alike than we are different. And we need each other.
I also am loving how certain celebrities and shows are finding ways to keep putting out stuff to keep us smiling and entertained. Just this morning I saw the interview with and performance by Dave Matthews on Jimmy Kimmel from their homes.
Another Silver Lining
There’s another silver lining here too. Chelsea and I were discussing this past week about how maybe the Earth needed a reset. Maybe our pollution and carbon emissions and smog and traffic and aggression was a bit too much. What if this is Mother Nature’s way of healing?
I read in this article about how public waterways in Venice were clear for the first time in maybe generations. New York City’s air pollutants dropped by 28% since the same time last year and according to Fortune Magazine, “China’s greenhouse gas emissions over the past month are as much as a quarter below normal levels.”
There will always be at least two or three ways to see everything. Are there reasons to panic? Yup. But as long as you and your loved ones have your health, there’s a lot going on right now to find gratitude for.
For me, I’m really feeling blessed to be locked in with my favorite people in the world, my three beautiful kids and wife. I’m also learning to find more patience and comfort in this new role as a home-school pre-K and Kindergarten teacher. It’s been hard (kudos to all the teachers out there, you’re super-heroes). I’m also really loving this cuddle time together.
Oh and in the middle of all this, we just moved into a new house on March 6th. Days before the pandemic went viral. So honestly if I’m going to be locked in, this is sort of ok timing. I’ve been keeping busy setting up my new studio space and Chelsea has me installing new ceiling fans. The kids have been loving doing arts and crafts here and this situation has forced me to look at new ways to reinvent myself.
I’m Finally on Patreon
Speaking of reinvention…For two years (maybe more), I’ve had on my to-do list, “Set up a Patreon page“.
For those of you that don’t know what this is (I didn’t either for a long time), it’s a way for creatives, content creators and freelancers to connect more deeply with their friends and fans and generate a little extra income in exchange for providing some more value that social media can offer.
I spent the past week learning about the platform and setting up levels of value that I can bring to you. Yesterday, I did it…I clicked the LAUNCH button!
What I am offering (for the first time) are a regular sneak peek at my process. Also I’ll be hosting live feeds to painting and drawing and progress shots and videos of some current and past works, review of art supplies, live chat and Q&A Video sessions for group coaching. The highest tier is for artists (or fans) who want monthly video conversations with me.
I am very much open to suggestions and hope you’ll consider helping me and my family out during this time of uncertainty. Here’s the link.
Can you please check it out? Would you consider becoming one of my first Patrons? I have levels of support starting at just $2.
I plan to start posting and sharing through my Patreon over the next week and with a little help from you, I’ll be able to afford to dedicate more time to doing what I love…making art and inspiring.
Thank you..I love you. Stay safe…Stay inside.
🙂
Jay
