I can’t look at this as the sky is falling.
If the past six months of traveling and personal development has taught me anything, high up on that list is that mindset is everything. If I approach this, coronavirus, as the sky is falling, the sky will indeed fall.
Being self-employed at any period of time is risky business but now, if you’re a service-based industry, that particularly happens to service large events — well, you’re scared shitless. The wedding industry has taken a huge hit, particularly large event vendors and travel vendors. I happen to be a travel vendor.
If your business relies on travel or large events, what do you do now?
As a photographer/videographer, I’ve been home for exactly 7 days before heading to another event out of state or at least an hour away for the past year and change. I’ve never spent this much time at home, and it’s scary. I can’t do my job, and if I can’t do my job, I can’t create an income.
I find that if you have hit some sort of slimy, seedy rock bottom, you typically understand that there are things that *feel* impossible and things that *are* impossible. The only difference between what *is* impossible and what *isn’t*, is truly your willingness to get creative. Dumpster diving for 6+ months of my life to reduce my spending certainly taught me that.
But dumpster diving isn’t accessible right now and I have more than just grocery bills that I need to fulfill for survival.
So what do I do now?…
$1200 covers 2 1/2 weeks of bills — there’s that. Unemployment and PPP/EIDL are going to take weeks, can’t even apply for unemployment right now. So, am I stuck?
When coronavirus first hit there was this mass-outcry of “WE CANT MAKE AN INCOME.” …really? Many photographers have found some creative (and not ok in some cases) solutions.
So what is the difference between a business closing and solutions? What’s the gel that changes that failing business to thriving during coronavirus-times?
Creativity, and mindset.
If I look at the situation as the sky is falling, do I leave room for there to even be a solution, or do I just doom myself for all things bad?
If I start looking at the situation as this sucks, but how can I pivot and create solutions, I at least leave room to try to find a way out of this mess.
Mindset isn’t as simple as just changing your mind about a situation.
Sometimes it takes weeks, or months for me to shift from one thought process to a more productive one. The best way to describe mindset is a skill that needs constant practice. Daily practice. Practice especially when you don’t want to practice. I’m glad I did this once with sobriety.
So how do I practice this ish so I can shift out the sky is falling?…
I’m not going to say “it’s not easy.” That’s silly, we’re all different and nothing is uniform for all people. What I will say works for me, is having the grace to let myself keep trying especially when I am not successful.
I often used to look at failures as that. An end in the road. Good bye. The door had closed. It kept me in a very limiting space. I needed to look at “mistakes” differently.
Around the same time I was realizing this, a friend told me about opportunities for growth. That’s what a mistake was. It was an opportunity for growth — a chance to do better. An open door to keep trying to get it right.
So I started writing to myself about my past mistakes and what the opportunity for growth was. I started trying to repair some of those damages and learned a lot.
My mindset started to shift and I stopped fearing making mistakes and started loving finding opportunities for growth — it meant I could learn more. I became more confident in my decisions, more able to actually make decisions, and was able to succeed at more opportunities. I was opening more doors versus closing them.
