I admit it. I’m a worrywart. And I’ve been one all my life. In fact, worrying is my life. From the time I put my foot out of the bed, to the moment I lay my head on the pillow, I’m a bundle of nerves.
Of course, recent world events haven’t helped matters. And COVID-19 has me off the charts with anxiety. Admittedly, I was always near the edge, on high alert for earthquakes, tornadoes, […]

Soon after 2020 dawned, I embarked on what Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way, calls “creative recovery.”
I began jotting some stream-of-consciousness thoughts in longhand. Not every day. And these short essays were not always very good. That’s not the point. The point is to write, to break through whatever is stopping you from creating — whether it’s procrastination, fear or laziness.
With all of our lives dramatically changed in recent weeks with the worldwide spread of the coronavirus, […]

(Caution: May cause your brain to bend in thought.)

I went to look
for an answer,
in a book.
Man’s Search for Meaning
By Viktor Frankl
I found my copy, yellowed.
Hello!
I knew it had wisdom.
But I felt dumb.
What was his point?
It’s slippery, sifted through
My hand like a fist of sand
Washed from my brain by
Beach sunset champagne
I get it, […]

(This piece originally appeared on John Grogan’s blog on March 23, 2020. Reposted by permission.)
What a difference a few days can make. Not long ago, I was watching coronavirus taking hold in Seattle, but still, like most Americans, considered it far away and of no immediate concern to me. I went about my daily business. On Wednesday, March 11, I was annoyed when we arrived at an Indian restaurant for lunch and were told they had abruptly stopped the help-yourself lunch buffet “until further notice.” […]

In addition to the truly grave aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic, a first-world problem that parents all over America are facing — along with looking for a creative and non-abrasive substitute for toilet paper — is how to keep their children wholesomely occupied while schools are closed. This can be especially challenging for parents already in a constant struggle to keep their adolescent offspring from becoming permanently grafted onto their smartphones.
In an effort to encourage my three teen daughters to use their unexpected break from school as a time for personal growth (and cheap labor), […]