Seven Positive Things About the Global Pandemic (If You Write)

Photo by Vicky Ng on Unsplash

I’m the kind of guy who always tried to look on the positive side of things. I take it a little too far sometimes, but it’s all about comparisons. When I explain my positive attitude to people, I often joke that if I were told I was going to die on Sunday and there was nothing I could do, I would be elated that I wouldn’t have to do my laundry on Saturday like I usually do.

Let’s face it. The pandemic sucks. All that work we missed out on, all that time spent indoors. For many writers, though they may have had an abundance of time thanks to lockdown orders, they were faced with a deficit of stimulation, interaction and inspiration they would have normally received.

1. The first positive thing about the pandemic was that many of us (I am assuming you are North American as I am writing in English) were not in China where they reacted to the pandemic by welding people into their apartments who were simply suspected of being infected. Here in Canada, England and the US, we have enough freedom and human rights that such extreme measures weren’t taken
2. In my case, the pandemic taught me a lot about saving. For the whole time covid was raging, I spent a lot of time at home. I learned more about cooking, I did very little spending, and thanks to a generous government, I was eligible for a special covid-19 benefit. I didn’t need this money thanks to savings and investments, so I paid back a fair bit of it. What was left got shunted into my tax-free savings account. Now, thanks to Covid, for the first time in my life I have that critical year’s salary set aside in case anything ever goes wrong. And I have grown so accustomed to not eating out and not shopping for expensive luxuries that my savings is only continuing to grow. This could mean a lot if I decide one day I have a killer idea for a novel, though due to my cheap nature, I may apply for a grant instead.
3. As writers, at least in my case, the pandemic has made me rediscover my first love — reading. As a kid, I gobbled up books, I would do anything to have the time, quiet and space to read. I have now read all kinds of incredible books since the pandemic began, and I am starting to get on top of what is selling, what people are reading, and what kind of work I would like to do as a writer.
4. The pandemic has made a lot of people, especially people at retirement age or older, throw in the towel and finally let Generation X come into its own. As a GenXer, I have a fair amount of computer skills along with some life experience and practice writing. Before the pandemic, I was competing with a lot of baby boomers who were on top and just wouldn’t let go of their positions. Now, magazines, literary journals, newspapers and online publications all seem to be screaming for what I have to offer. And I have made a new income stream with my computer literacy by doing a lot of public speaking and teaching online.
5. One of the big things about being in isolation due to the pandemic is that I have been able to take advantage of a lot of incredible learning opportunities. When the pandemic first began, a friend and I took advantage of a 2 for 1 sale on a masterclass membership. They have some incredible courses, from learning chess to several courses in writing on diverse topics. I loved taking Billy Collin’s course on poetry. I have been using a lot of my pandemic time to teach, learn about and write poetry thanks to that time well spent. Thanks so programs like Overdrive and Hoopla, library apps, along with some serious time watching documentaries on Youtube, I have definitely become a better writer. Now there are even more apps from River TV which lets you watch cable TV including things like the History Channel and live news broadcasts, to Kanopy which allows you to watch documentaries and even some incredible movies, for free when you register with a library card.
6. The pandemic has helped me become more appreciative of relationships, how I form them and how I maintain them. One of the most important relationships other than with my dad is with my mentor, a multiple-book bestselling author who lives not far away. Before the pandemic we spent a lot of time together, playing with his son, meeting up at our favourite restaurant. Until the pandemic hit I never realized how important it is to have good friends like him, and how a daily connection with my community is essential for my mental health and for allowing me to write things good enough for someone to want to pay for them.
7. The most important part of all about the pandemic is that I have started to realize how fragile and how critical good mental and physical health can be. I couldn’t tell you if I’ve had Covid, but I did have a couple of close calls where I thought I did and had to isolate. I cursed myself for ever being a smoker (though I quit smoking 18 years ago I did smoke for around 18 years and my lungs never fully recovered). I also had to get serious about my diabetes and about finding a mental health counsellor. For the diabetes, I sought out new things I could eat at home that didn’t contain sugar, and for my mental health I found an incredible therapist and worked through some of my problems over Zoom in ten one-hour sessions. I left the sessions much more able to think clearly and to write without resorting to some of my more base emotions.

So, as I said, how we perceive our life can be positive or negative. A good example about how your own personal biases and your attitude can affect how the world looks to you is when I was a teen and working in a donut shop. A lot of people came in for a toasted bagel and creamcheese and it seemed they loved them. I had never had one and knew so little about them that when I finally tried one, I recall thinking, “Man, this is the worst tasting donut I have ever tasted. How could anyone like these?” My ignorance (for which the best remedy is travel) made me see something I later learned to love as something horrible. I feel that everything in the world can be a blessing or a curse, it all just depends on how you look at things. Thanks for reading this far.