COVID and Creativity

It’s been a year since I contracted COVID. I acknowledge it but cannot celebrate. I recall how scary it was to be acutely ill, but now I live with the chronic adult onset asthma that COVID has left me with. It's been a difficult year for my health, with a common cold keeping me down for weeks or months and necessitating the use of steroids in addition to my now-regular inhalers. In fact, I am experiencing an episode of this lingering cold currently. I try to remain strong and resilient, but I often feel worn down and tired instead. My lack of creativity tells me how sick or depressed I am. I don’t feel inspired to pick up a paint brush, type or write a word, or mix a batch of balm. But I will, my friends, very soon. Today, I would like to share a hopeful poem that I wrote in September 2021:

The Mask

When the mask comes off for good.

I will be forever changed.

I will breathe deep.

I will see differently.

I will judge less.

It takes so much effort and strength to change.

Whether it was imposed on you or you initiated it.

More effort and strength will be required to remain changed.

And for how long?

Until we are nudged.

I will nudge myself.

I will grow and evolve.

I will retain perspective.

Every day of my life.

Mask or mask-less.