Overlapping worlds: creative triggers in self-isolation (Archived)

Whether we’re working from home or enjoying some down time, other people’s actions can impinge upon our focus and productivity. Never has this been more obvious than now, with COVID-19 restricting our movements to the four walls of our houses and units. How do we stay sane, productive and creative during self-isolation? How can new stories be born from the same four walls?

My neighbours argue — frequently and passionately. This wasn’t something I was exposed to pre-COVID-19 because I spend so much time at work, travelling to work, out with friends or asleep. It turns out there are a lot more children in the units around me then I realised. These children have a lot of musical enthusiasm and are still developing their musical talent. One of my neighbours is an explosive sneezer.

Working from home means a merging of boundaries. Multi-worker households have pop-up workstations in odd places and rosters to juggle resources. Our bubble of work or daily life no longer stands separate to what our spouse, child, housemate or neighbour is doing. How our housemates, families or neighbours choose to use their space impacts on what we can do in ours. Our child may want to play whilst we need to be in a meeting. The neighbour chooses to work on their boat motor whilst you need to make that important phone call. It’s easy to feel agitated at this leakage of other people’s routines across the boundary of our own.

Rather than feel frustrated at the loss of our productive little bubble, let’s bend our creative minds to reflect on the inspiration this clash of worlds and routines could sire. Being pressed shoulder to shoulder allows our day-to-day world to overlap with those of our family, housemates or neighbours in new and exciting ways. That overlap, that space between us, can be a place of tension — of different priorities and perceptions.

What better cue to a story or creative project then that stretch and flex of tension? What better spice than a pinch of the absurd and unexpected as we catch a brief glint of other people’s lives and behaviours? Denied our usual busy-ness, our minds may simmer and stew in this new silence and peace and relax, listen and open to curiousity.

It is so easy to focus on the things we have had to surrender or set aside in this health crisis. It’s harder to turn our minds to spotting the opportunities that have crept into our lives. These opportunities creep in on shadow-soft feet, make far less noise than the bleating headlines. They feature less on the news. They are shy and evasive, rarely coming up in phone and video chats with friends and family unless someone makes a concerted effort.

This past week I have had to work hard to focus not on what I have lost in this transition into self-isolation and working from home, but instead what opportunities have been presented. Instead of feeling trapped by shared or overlapping boundaries, let’s take a moment to appreciate what new energy and ideas and inspirations these overlaps have swept into our tired, stale, controlled little worlds.

What bubbles overlap in your world? What inspiration can you spot in our merged lives and spaces?

(Posted: 5 Apr 2020. Follow me at: https://nicolewalshauthor.com/)