Search Our Website

AOP Member Login

News
THE CREATIVE LIFE: Five tips for surviving the coronacoaster

30 April 2020

The Creative Life Logo copy

Sheryl Garratt has earned a living as a writer for more than 30 years. She was the editor of The Face and The Observer magazine, and has worked closely with some of the world's best photographers. She is also a life coach working with freelancers and creatives of all kinds, helping them create a life they love, do work they are proud of - and get paid for it.

Sheryl's blog The Creative Life offers a wealth of advice from how to go about a weekly check in with yourself to productivity tips as well as ways to deal with the current Coronavirus crisis.  Sheryl offers her top five tips to creatives during these Coronavirus times.

Sheryl Garrett


1. Practice acceptance

We are where we are: in the middle of a global pandemic.  We’re all feeling anxious, one way or another. Some days you’ll feel fine, just frustrated you can’t get back to work; other days you’ll feel exhausted, snappy, depressed, angry – or numb and feeling very little at all.

This is normal. You are not broken. There is nothing wrong with you. 

Just be kind to yourself, on the down days. Rest when you need to (which may be more than usual). And if you feel like working, by all means make some work. Even if it’s very different from what you normally do.

Play. Experiment. You are a creative, resourceful and resilient professional. There’s no way you’d have made a living as a photographer without those attributes!


2. Take extra good care of yourself

Has that evening glass of wine turned into most of the bottle, opened ever earlier in the day? Are you eating your own bodyweight in Hob-Nobs and Doritos? It your life a hectic whirl of box-set binges, rolling news feeds, social media and computer games? If so, how is that making you feel?

We all have behaviours we turn to when times are tough: comfort eating, obsessive cleaning, drinking more, picking arguments with random strangers on Twitter. But this isn’t going to be over quickly, so it’s worth considering healthier ways to get those needs met. A walk. A bath. A hug. A manic dance around the kitchen. A chat with a friend. An hour pottering in the garden, if you’re lucky enough to have one. 

Make a list of everything you need, to feel OK. Not great, necessarily. But OK.
Get detailed about this. Start with essentials like food, water, sleep, exercise. Then add in the quirkier things that you personally need. If I don’t get at least an hour on my own every day, for instance, I get snappy, irritable and increasingly unbearable.

Once you have the list, make it your responsibility to get those needs met. There’s nothing wrong with a drink, a junk meal, a night lost in Netflix. In moderation. But take care of yourself, and you’ll come out of this stronger, and more prepared for the challenges ahead. 

 

3. Communicate with your clients/agents/commissioning editors

In the weeks after lockdown, I got heartily sick of the word ‘pivot’. My mum was in intensive care with Covid-19. My life had been turned upside down. I didn’t want to reinvent myself, launch a side-hustle, or think of a way to capitalise on the crisis. If you do, great. Go for it!

But even if you don’t, it’s worth communicating with your clients, asking what their needs are, and seeing if there are ways of serving them now – or securing bookings for later.  

Are there offers you could make, to clients who pay a deposit now?  A bonus Zoom consultation on how to pose with confidence, perhaps. An assessment of their website, and some ideas on how its imagery could be improved. An upsell or extra service that could give you even more income, offered at a discounted price if they book during lockdown.  

 

4. Focus on what you can control

 

Things you can’t control, right now:  The news; the Government; the economy; the virus; the weather; how others are behaving; your income. And Donald Trump. Especially Donald Trump.

Things you can control:  How often you check the news; your own thoughts and behaviour; how you help others; what you’re watching, reading, listening to; who you speak to, and how you speak to them; how well you take care of yourself and the people close to you; what you’re spending.

 

 

The more you focus on what you can control, the better you’ll feel. But also, oddly, the more influence you have on the wider world.


5. Ask for help

 

You are not alone. Talk to other photographers and creatives. Reach out to friends.

If you’re struggling financially, talk to your landlord, your bank, your credit card company. And apply for every bit of support available.

My website, thecreativelife.net, has lots of resources for creatives, and a free ten-day course to fine-tune your freelance business.

During the crisis, I’m also offering special, one-off coaching sessions to share some tools for dealing with the stress, and to help you make a plan for the next few months. Perhaps you’re also starting to consider how you’d like life to change, afterwards. I’m happy to offer this to AOP members at a 25% discount.

Finally, don’t forget that there are also some amazing podcasts out there. I’ve found Brene Brown’s Unlocking Us podcasts and Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield’s pandemic resources really helpful. David DuChemin’s podcasts on creativity, A Beautiful Anarchy, are useful, inspiring and blissfully short.

 

 

Sheryl Garratt is a writer and a coach helping creatives to get the success and the life they want, making work they love. You can find her at www.thecreativelife.net




Join our mailing list for free access to this resource.