You might be wondering right now, when is the pandemic going to end?
Well, that’s a good question, but the answer is unfortunately uncertain from a world perspective.
If you look around, it’s quite a disturbing reality check for people to face, accept and deal with the pounding reality which is constantly being bombarded upon one each day in every direction that things aren’t the way that they used to be.
Many are waking up to an unwelcome new normal.
As you try to face yourself, your immediate environment and the world at large in the daily grind of living through this pandemic, it can be totally overwhelming, extremely exhausting and utterly disheartening at times.
You could be seeing yourself in the position where life is just unreal and hard to accept no matter what you try sometimes. There is a chance that you might find yourself spending countless hours at home for many days on end, endlessly thinking on how you’re going to deal with every aspect of your life.
If you’re reading this, you’re probably experiencing some major side effects from this evolving pandemic:
Habitual and Extended Isolation
Since the initial outbreak and rapid spread of the Coronavirus a few years back, it has resulted in an international health crisis.
You could say that this crisis has brought an “Isolation Era” for individuals, families, social groups and humanity itself.
As an individual you might be facing the ripple effects of COVID-19 in a greater or lesser degree where health is a daily concern, isolation is more of a way of life and traditional social needs that contribute to your health and comfort are increasingly deprived of you as each day progresses.
Isolation is welcome by some and dreaded by others.
The family structure that supports our very societies and the world at large has already been struggling throughout many decades, but this global crisis hasn’t made it any easier. You’ll find traditional familial values and close-knit interactions degenerating to new lows due to isolation.
Our social groups and centers that fuel our social life whether we are talking about clubs, libraries, guilds, unions, museums, organizations, public gatherings and you name it at a local, national or international level almost came to an utter halt at various times in the daily lives of people during this epidemic.
Isolation has been very hard for many people because individuals and groups naturally tends to attract to one another for bonding, comfort, safety, inspiration, hope, security, development and much more, but public health comes first.
Help prevent and reduce the spread of this pandemic by following local and federal guidelines, including directions from your doctor.
This global health crisis has brought the world together in many ways to fight a common threat. It has connected us more than ever, but in the same flip of a coin, we have become less connected in other respects.
As humanity plunges into this new Isolation Era, the future seems uncertain at various levels as a result of the fluctuating spread of the Coronavirus, Omicron and their resulting variants, but the future still seems hopeful for many.
Mild to Severe Depression
The subject of stress and depression is definitely not uncommon to man, but its presence, influence, and severity upon an individual has become that much greater in modern times since the rise of this health crisis.
Stress itself is usually a gradual or rapid negative mental experience that eventually develops into the greater monster known as “depression” unless it’s caught and addressed at earlier stages.
The degree of negative influence upon individuals could be determined to an extent by their inherent or educated ability of coping with daily stress. Each person is different in how they view, experience, and deals with it. It could come from health issues or emotional triggers stirred up by one’s surrounding environment, or fears chewing one’s thoughts from impending future situations.
Don’t let the current pandemic scene get on your nerves.
This evolving pandemic has simply compounded the overall situation, where stress and depression has become more severe. For some, it has brought them down to lower levels of apathy. It’s not just lower emotionally and mentally, but it’s being prolonged for extended periods of time that could be considered unhealthy for any individual to remain in such a state without eventually facing detrimental repercussions.
Stress could have a weakening effect upon your immune system.
These negative consequences could spill into other areas of one’s life for example family, friends, social activities and even work itself, where you might find yourself not caring anymore.
It’s an ominous cloud that continues to linger in one's life and keeps getting darker, and you don’t know what kind of elements you’re going to be getting from this health climate. It’s only going to get better or worse. So, it’s a broad matter that needs to be resolved.
Joblessness or Impending Unemployment
This world is facing an unprecedented situation where the safety of one’s job is in constant danger as the pandemic continuous. You could totally be fine one day, but then finding yourself out of work the following day. Then, if you find yourself unemployed, it could be hard to get back on the workforce.
There are quite a few people out there who actually do have jobs. But they can’t show up to work because their businesses or institutions are not reopening their doors to the public to help stop the spread of the pandemic by following local and federal guidelines.
Never compare yourself to anyone else as your source of happiness.
This is not even factoring in the fact of how unprofitable it can be for certain types of businesses and organizations, especially start-ups, to try to stay opened during this hectic times. They are trying to keep their businesses afloat somehow in this epidemic. It’s challenging their ability to provide goods and services to their local communities while keeping enough employees to do the work satisfactorily.
Be the best that you can be and continue to grow from there.
You have large companies that have been around for a very long time, but are currently limping to stay alive as an organization. Some of these establishments are large pillars in a society that have been supporting many towns and cities with continuous, stable jobs. It has gotten so bad at times that many companies had to lay off many of their employees because they can’t afford to keep them around with the current scene.
It’s quite disheartening when a business have to close their doors overnight by firing all their employees since their losses are too great to bear and declaring bankruptcy seems like the only way out.
Then, you have a sudden surge of people heading back home without work to support themselves and their loved ones. They are experiencing later on greater troubles in finding and starting a new job when many businesses are staying closed or hiring is very limited based on the area.
The world economy is trying to reinvent itself to some degree, so it can successfully cope with the pandemic and allowing commerce to continue.
Why the Arts Might Save You
As you experience isolation, depression and possibly finding yourself being out of work, you might be wondering how on earth I’m going to pull through this modern “Dark Ages”.
If one looks at early history, the exact elements that sparked rebirth and new life for many civilizations that were decaying at various times by different types of dark ages that were occurring around the world. It was always through the arts that lead to a new renaissance. That renaissance could be brought in you.
Prevent your own inner dark ages during this pandemic.
Isolation, depression, sadness, fear, anger or any kind of negative energy that you might be experiencing in your life can be channeled, transformed and turned into creative thought. You can place those intangible feelings, ideas, and thoughts that are inside your mind into actual artistic reality. It can be quite therapeutic.
You should start getting involved in the arts if you haven’t before, or get yourself back in the groove of doing so if you found yourself stopped by any reason. Or if you’re an artist creating some art, but you don’t feel satisfied enough, you should go ahead and produce a lot more or add new elements of art to your life.
So, ask yourself, how many aesthetic elements do you need to create or add to your personal life to start a renaissance in yourself?
Artistic Ways to Ride the Pandemic
If you’re finding yourself at home most of the time feeling bored, anxious, frustrated, unsatisfied or just some aspect of life is lacking in yourself and the arts aren’t part of your daily life, this might be the best news you’ve ever heard.
Every single person on Earth is an artist.
That’s right, you are an ARTIST with much potential and skill. Some skills are natural, you’re born with them, and other skills you learn through much practice until it looks and feels natural. You might have a natural talent for something, but you might not be aware of it at the moment, or simply you have an untapped passion for an artistic element that only needs your mastery of the skill.
The arts could help you complement your ride and life through the pandemic. It could even make the feeling of time “disappear”.
Time doesn’t exit when stroke by the spirit of art.
It has often been experienced that time seems to stop when one find themselves involved in something that they truly enjoy or feel passionate about.
Work is not work, when you love or enjoy what you do.
The arts are quite an embracing field in themselves when it comes to creating and dealing with aesthetics. Explored them to see what resonates with you, but the best two ways to start in the arts are the following:
#1 Painting
This is the art of using artist paint on a picture as decoration. The most popular mediums used for painting are oil, acrylics, and watercolors. These are usually applied on a canvas surface with various types of brushes.
You're painting life, or life is painting you.
Oil paint is quite awesome due to its rich quality that it produces in comparison with other mediums. The only drawback you might run into in using oil is the fact that it can take a long time before the paint fully dries, and you can start working on it again. It can take several hours or even until the next day based on how thick your coats of paint are.
Acrylic paint on the other hand is great because of its flexibility. It dries pretty fast while still producing a nice final finish. If for some reason you need to go back and change details on your picture, well, this paint can be forgiving. Once you’re fully done with your painting, you have an option of applying a final coat of vanish to give it a glossy look.
Watercolor paint is unique in quality than the above two mediums. It’s made with a water-soluble cohesive substance such as gum arabic, and thinned with water rather than oil, giving a transparent color. It’s good for producing abstract or real life paintings with a softer look, which dries rather fast. Instead of using a canvas surface for oil and acrylic paint, you use paper material for watercolors.
Painting is a vivid way to release your thoughts, fears, stress, or even your great ideas into a realistic form. You can do it for self-satisfaction, decorating your home or as a gift to a family member or friend or put it up for sale for any admirers.
#2 Drawing
It’s a picture made with a pencil, pen, or pastel rather than paint. The method that you use for drawing comes down to preference. They are all fun to use, but each one have their own pros and cons. It’s usual for someone to sketch many ideas on paper before they produce their final drawing. It can be a monochrome drawing with black and white or in varying tones of one color or multicolor.
Desensitize pestering thoughts and feelings through artistic creations.
Pencils are another flexible and excellent way of creating art at your own pace and convenience anywhere you go. You can use thin or thick paper for your drawings. Usually, thin paper is for sketching and thick paper is for drawing. If you make any mistakes, you can always go back and erase them.
Pens are usually a more colorful and distinct style of drawing. It’s extra expressive and bolder than using a pencil, but it’s not flexible where you can go back and erase any mistakes. If you are naturally attracted to decorative handwriting, such as in calligraphy, pens might be ideal for you.
Pastels are another special method of drawing. They are crayons made of powdered pigments bound with gum or resin. It provides a much higher quality drawing than just using a pencil or pen. It can even slightly resemble an actual painting based on the type of pastels you use. The kind of paper used for pastels has a unique, rough texture to it.
Aside from mostly creating aesthetic drawings for pleasure or placing one’s ideas on paper, it’s also an indirect way of channeling one’s frustrations or pestering thoughts out of your head. Just keep drawing until it starts to desensitize any possible negative feels or thoughts over you.
Ride the Pandemic Through the Arts
The arts can be quite therapeutic for one’s cognitive health in tackling the effects of isolation, depression, and joblessness. They are artistic tools you can use. All you have to do is create, create and endlessly create, but most importantly just START.
Written by,
Nathaniel Bernard—Art Blogger
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