Balancing a post-Covid act; an art in & of itself!

The old adage “when it rains, it pours” has shown itself to be quite percussive lately. It seems like the world went from 0 to 100 overnight and while trying to embrace all the beautiful things coming my way, I often find myself in a position where I’m experiencing all sorts of contradictory feelings at once.

First off, I ask myself: how does one not completely surrender to the madness that once was? The pre-Covid state of the art, where we were all running around trying to juggle so many different things at once all the while keeping our composedness and not drive ourselves mad or sick. How CAN we navigate the post-Covid era and not repeat the same old mistakes?

I’ve spoken to many colleagues about the challenges that come into play when balancing our tight act. It’s been a hot topic recently as we’re all trying to figure out how to get back into the swing of things in a healthy way. As a freelancer, one often has to wear many hats, and the success of one particular area also might depend on the amount of energy & time that goes into the other. In better words, it’s all inter-connected. While it is true that a performer’s focus should primarily be on becoming the best artist he/she can by practicing and honing their craft, the reality of the current times also calls for many other professional components, such as booking, promoting, organizing, managing, traveling, designing and being experts at communicating, ha! And when you’ve not been flexing these muscles for several months -17 to be exact- it can be quite challenging to go full speed ahead very suddenly without feeling overwhelmed.

I never claimed I was particularly good at any of these skills but over the years, I have learned a great deal by trying, making mistakes and watching my contemporaries do the same thing. I will say that because this process can at times be frustrating, having a good release, something that can really help “reseting” the energy is very important. For me, it has always been fitness - whether it be yoga, dancing, running or exercising in general.

During the last year, the “release” has become more predominant in my life and the need for it, even greater. As we navigated some pretty challenging and unknown times, the battle between the anxiety, the feeling of hopelessness and extreme sadness was real. Yoga became a daily “must-do” for me, along with other physical activities. I was thankful to have re-located in an area where hiking was a possibility, so I re-connected with one of my first loves (Yes, I’m a mountain gal at heart!) and found solace in the woods many a time.

Now that work is picking up (and I mean, quite intensively), I want to make sure I can apply some of the lessons I’ve learned during Covid to my current life. Because, yes, despite the challenges, there were some wonderful learning opportunities. One of them has proven itself to be quite revelatory as a matter of fact. Having been a “yes-woman” my entire life, I’ve found out that being “forced” to slow down and welcome moments of calm and serenity without panicking was indeed an art in and of itself! So I’ve learned the power of establishing clear boundaries for my own sake. It’s not always easy and it may at times feel a little scary, trust me, but it can also be quite liberating I will say. There’s nothing like the power of self-affirming and knowing & respecting your limits!

When looking at the grand scheme of things and putting everything in perspective, it appears that the times of release are collectively shrinking but the need for them might actually not be. So here comes my initial question: how CAN we navigate the post-Covid era and be the best version of ourselves mentally, professionally and personally?

I’d love to hear your thoughts about all that. In the meantime, I’ll keep practicing mindfulness as much as possible, hike up any mountain I can and trust myself when from time to time, the need to set my limits and say “no” arises… It’s all a work in progress, isn’t it?! ;)