The lakeside photo above is from an idyllic week my husband and I spent at a quiet, remote lake in Maine, just the balm we needed to salve our weary souls. After almost five months of sequestration here in NYC (the first two months in a harrowing lockdown), we needed this break. Being away from the home that has become our family workplace (as well as our gym, our restaurant, our movie theatre, our concert hall), gave me time to reflect on what we have lost and what we have gained living with this pandemic.
I won't enumerate the losses. As a speaking coach whose other line of work is live theatre, and whose favorite non-professional gig is choral singing, I have felt the loss keenly.
But what have we gained? More than I would have predicted at the outset. My production company, Pipeline Playwrights, pivoted from our usual spring reading series of new works to a Zoom series of work-in-progress excerpts. This started in April, and was well received by our regular supporters. Even better - we're now able to share our stories with friends and family who otherwise wouldn't have been able to see our work. So we're going to keep it up, and expand on this model with my upcoming reading of Saltwater Farm. For more information on how you can tune in to experience this Zoom reading of my newest play, check out the "In other news" section in my newsletter.
While I was in Maine I visited the area and the homes that provided some inspiration for that play. Here's a photo of one of my favorites.
As I wrote last month, I've also been doing Zoom webinars, coaching doctors (so far, but hope to reach out to other professions). I've been helping them learn strategies for giving effective video presentations for upcoming conferences and meetings, since they won't be traveling anytime soon. I hope to gain momentum with this specific type of coaching. If you belong to an association whose annual meeting is being moved online, I'd welcome the chance to connect with your leadership and event planners.
On days when the losses outweigh the gains, I find it useful to remember that upheaval and uncertainly have been part of the human condition for quite some time. After all, it was Heraclitus of Ephesus who said, around 500 BCE, "all things, constantly, are in flux and are, in that regard, the same."
