Even If You Just Think About It - a podcast by Jai//Em

Full Show Notes with Links:

So today (and you'll hear more about it later), we're kind of just going with the flow and letting me talk into this mic, which is a little scary but before we get to my explanation for why, a few things I just want to put on your radar.

First thing: Animal Crossing is out! Very excited about this game-- lots of people are talking about it. If you know what it is, I'm sure you're playing right now. If you don't know what it is, someone you know, knows what it is and they can tell you all about it! But um, I'm very excited to play it and will definitely give you an update on how that is going in a future episode, but Animal Crossing: New Horizons is out!

Second thing: If you are able to donate money to people in need during Covid-19, please do. But I urge you to not only look into big organizations like Red Cross or your local hospital, but to also look locally and within the communities and bubbles you live in. People in the service industry, people with hourly jobs that work on weekends, people that have been laid off or been told that when work resumes they will be contacted, so they are not making income now... If you know somebody in that situation you're making just as big a difference giving them money directly then giving it to a gigantic organization to help with the health crisis part of it. You can also help with the local, human, financial situation part of it. I urge you to look through your Twitter and Instagram feeds, think about the people in your rolodex, in your cell phone address book. Oh, I know this person works retail. Oh I know this person is a waiter, let me reach out to them, see if they've got something on their Twitter page that says they're collecting money and if I can donate there.

Number three: And this is just sort of a little bit of a warning. I know everybody's using conferencing apps right so that we can video chat with your friends or do business if you're working from home. I've never been a fan of Zoom because I worked at a company that used Zoom and it was a pain in the ass. But, I just read today that Zoom is actually having some trouble. The fun articles are calling it zoombombing, but the serious articles are saying Zoom has security risks that everybody needs to watch out for. Also these others like third-party, fun apps that you're finding on your phone and in the Google Play Store and and things like that, let you talk with your friends and put stickers up-- the fun apps that your kids might want to use be. Be wary of those apps, please. You never know what exactly they're doing on the backend, and a lot of this stuff is sort of just being overlooked because everyone needs apps to video conference with and we're not really thinking about it, we're just using them.

And lastly there has been some really, really great creative stuff coming out of people's brains lately that is Coronavirus related. Lots of songs and musical parodies and dances and poems and things like that. I've been reposting stuff on the Creative4evr Instagram page and I encourage you to jump in and enjoy that content. It's a relevant, healthy way to engage with what's going on in the world. There's so much bad about Coronavirus because it is bad, but if you pepper in a really clever song parody, you know, it will help, I promise. There are a lot of people out there doing some pretty inspirational work based on this tragedy, you know, bringing us laughs when we need them most. Check them out on the Creative4evr Instagram page, and a lot of other people are posting these items too.

So you know, how at the end of each episode I say, Don't forget to be creative this week even if you just think about it…? Well, this is my week to just think about it. It has been a week! You know that saying (and maybe it's not even a saying I've heard it said, does that count?) life gets in the way?

Well life has gotten in the way this week for me. I am certain that life is getting in the way for you as well. It has been so difficult for me to execute lately and it's because my stress level is high, my energy is all the fuck over the place, my emotions are all over the place... We talked about compartmentalizing last week -- I never was good at it, and I'm certainly not now. There's just so-so-so much happening.

I am able to work from home. I'm fortunate enough to be able to work from home, but that also means that for the last month. I have been working from home, like full-time working from home. And of course that changes things a little bit. It's not exactly what it would be if I were in the office, but it's a lot to be doing from home, full-time Monday through Friday, normal business hours. And there's a lot to do! So, I've been doing that...

I've been trying to be a person, right? A normal person. I'm not showering as much as I would usually shower. I'll tell you that right now. I’ve been trying to eat when I'm supposed to, trying to go to bed when I'm supposed, trying to be creative when I am supposed to. All of the things!

As you can guess because you're probably going through it too, I'm talking to family a lot more. I think that's gone up by a thousand percent. I'm talking to friends and extended family in a way that I haven't before. I've also been having nightmares, which is not great. I'm a dreamer, right? Like I actually, literally dream at night, but usually even when they are vivid dreams, it's not every single night that I have a vivid dream or something overwhelming is happening in my brain that when I wake up I'm like wow, I didn't sleep at all. I was just sort of dreaming and freaking out while my eyes were closed for eight hours. Anyway, over the past month slowly, more and more, I’ve been having vivid dreams and this week they turned into flat-out nightmares. Really, really bad one on Tuesday morning. Shit's just getting real.

It's very hard to handle. On top of all of this...migraines! Yes, indeedy! Because I'm a super sensitive soul, my body is super sensitive. I haven't had caffeine in years now because I can't have it, my body freaks out. I can't have too much sugar. I can't have milk or cheese, all of this shit started happening to me. The caffeine has been for a long long time, but the lactose intolerant part is new this year and it sucks. What I'm trying to say is if any of that stuff gets off… If I have a little too much sugar, don't get enough sleep, my workout habits change... Wine! I start drinking a little too much wine consistently, meaning having a glass on Monday night, and then having a glass on Tuesday night, and then having a glass on Thursday night… It begins to be too much for my body. So anyway--  migraine today! Migraine yesterday, migraine two days ago. It's a lot. 

So I have to be okay with (and obviously you can tell I'm not, but maybe you can help me). I have to be okay with not being creative this week, with releasing this podcast episode which is really gonna be hopefully just me posting it like this with barely any edits because I don't have time for edits. I literally need to stop doing this and do some other things that have to be done this week. But it is what it is and I have to be okay with that. I have to be okay with no writing getting done this week. I have to be okay with thinking about creativity. What I say at the end of each episode, because life got in the way.

So here's what I got for you this week. Do what you can. Learn from me, don't put yourself in a situation where all of this stuff is happening-- migraines, nightmares, work, your family-- all of this stuff is happening and you are still trying to make something creative happen. Don't put yourself in that position. Take care of yourself, just think about being creative if you have to for a little while and try to be okay with it.

I promise I'm trying to be okay with it and we will get through this.

You can find us on Twitter or Instagram: @Creative4evr. Don't forget to be creative this week, even when you have no choice but to just think about it. Later.

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