©️Harry Rubinoff

One of these days is none of these days.

English Proverb

In this time of the Coronavirus, many of us are living without the usual deadlines and the incentives for starting and completing projects. However, it is really important to resist becoming apathetic, phlegmatic, depressed and feeling unfulfilled and frustrated just because we are being deprived of the usual venues of expressing ourselves creatively and through our everyday work.

If we keep our emotional connection to the stimuli that urge us to originate something of personal or societal significance, we will discover new and novel ways of using past experiences and mold them into new forms. We do not want the observation of British writer James Alberry’s  to be applicable to us: “He lived a life of going-to-do, and died with nothing done.”

Instead, remember, “Our best way to plan for tomorrow is to prepare for tomorrow, and to be ready, we need to be adaptable. Few of us will have only one career throughout our lives…we will probably have to recreate ourselves in varying degrees many times during the course of our lives. For us, there will be many beginnings. Creativity is about beginning. It is also about completing what we begin.” (HAVE YOU EVER HAD A HUNCH? The Importance of Creative Thinking)

So I have a question for you: are you …

Living Life in Pause

Tidying up your drawers,

Sweeping clean your floors,

Stepping … gingerly … outdoors?

Yes, a good idea to do all of that but how about at the same time, doing much, much more. How about striding – smartly prepared of course while socially distancing – outdoors? How about opening up new doors by allowing in passion, that wonderful emotional trigger that propels creative people to persist in their efforts? How about cultivating new interests as we simultaneously adjust to these unexpected, frightening and confusing circumstances? Our political and social circumstances will alter and we will keep having to adapt in new ways or incorporate and encapsulate the difficult times we are presently experiencing into new forms which are significant to us and perhaps, to others as well. 

Food of course, remains a necessity and among the choices we have is the that from Matthew Levy of SIMPLY SCRUMPTIOUS fame (Scottsdale-based – 602-463-6632) which provides healthy, take-out, home-delivered, scrumptious meals to all those who would love to take a break from cooking for themselves.  

I used as the feature for my article, Harry Rubinoff’s Heroes of W111. I find the image to be both powerful and also, a relevant encapsulation of our present times:  “I did a tribute to the Doctors, Nurses, Aides and other hospital workers who are risking their lives to save ours,” he said in an email to me.

Music composer Aaron A. Kaplan said this to me in an email “I was inspired by these horrific events surrounding the Coronavirus. Quarantined at home sitting in my studio, I started writing and this is what I created. Hope it brings you some enjoyment, peace and hope. Our loved ones are what is most important. (Truth is, my wife sent me to my studio and said I couldn’t come out until I wrote a new composition) God Bless.”

And in another email he wrote, “Debbie also locked me in my studio over the weekend because she said there was another movement that needed to be created and she was right, lol. It is orchestra including piano and choir.”  Life Begins Again Part 2