Blog: A Year Of COVID & The Lesson Within

Well. Here we are. A year later & still, we’re here…well, at least many of us are.

I was talking with my friend Lindsay the other day & she brought up a time during the first two weeks of quarantine in which I offhandedly made a comment something to the effect of making plans for when life goes back to normal in just a couple of weeks, little did I know just how wrong I was. I guess hindsight is 20/20 but man, has it been a year.

I entered quarantine on March 12th, 2020 as many of us did, fully expecting life to be back to normal by April. I couldn’t have imagined a year later finally, just now, getting glimpses of the light at the end of this miserable, virus laced tunnel. I guess that’s a clear sign that fortune telling isn’t my calling.

Pre-quarantine I’d planned out my year right up until about midsummer. I was planning to fly to Barcelona in order to premiere “Obliterated” with Hektor Mass, I was in the studio, in the middle of recording “When He Was Me,” & had planned a post-Stagecouch radio tour for the UK in late April/Early May. Needless to say none of these things ended up happening. I’ll be honest though, I held out hope for those last two, especially in the early days, but blatant government mismanagement quickly put an end to those plans. I really didn’t mind the first two weeks of this whole mess. It felt like a little vacation, a respite that the entire world was taking together, a massive global inhale. I think things changed around the time of my 28th birthday. April 16th.

I’ve always been of a mind that we as humans should celebrate the anniversary of our own births joyously; doing the things that make us happy despite exterior input or perceived extravagance. I tell my friends often to celebrate their birthdays by doing something they’d be thrilled to do alone & if others choose to join & be a part of that, great! If not, then your day is still your own & yours to celebrate however you see fit. I was incapable of doing what I wanted for mine this last year but fortunately I am surrounded by a lot of amazing people who threw me an incredible virtual birthday despite the circumstances. At the time I was doing daily “silver-linings,” essentially little videos I’d post on my instagram story that were meant to put a little bit of hope back into a wildly uncertain world. Eventually those faded out, not out of lack of desire to create them but more out of fatigue & in my mind, lack of visible hope.

This past year hit me hard. Luckily I have been fortunate enough not to have lost anyone near & dear to me as so many have but as someone who has struggled their entire adult life with depression, things really haven’t been easy. Where a lot of people were able to continue working virtually, I had been doing supplemental work in person, a job I could no longer do. In addition to that, the job I’m passionate about, music, came to a screeching halt. All the progress & momentum I felt I had made or was making felt like it’d been thrown out the window. On top of all of that I found myself in the high risk category for COVID, having spent the last year & a half dealing with respiratory issues so my options for work were limited, further so perpetuated by the surmounting unemployment crisis we’re facing in this country.

It’s hard to find inspiration as a songwriter in a life without novelty buried in the monotony of it all. It’s hard to get up every day to the same Groundhog’s Day hellscape & try to force inspiration & drive. Coasting becomes your default, simple tasks being to feel like unscalable mountains, & your life becomes a stagnant void where you always feel like you’re just sitting around waiting on your life to begin all the while aging. Harder still is watching how truly selfish some of your peers can be. So many continued life as if nothing was happening; people played shows, went to massive get togethers, went out, all while completely ignoring CDC guidelines that could have helped return life to normal for all of us long ago. Trust me when I say, those of us who have been doing out best day to day will remember who you are.

COVID has shown a light on just how much some member of our society just don’t give a shit about others. This was further magnified in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement that happened over the summer & the divisive at best November election season. We talk a lot about how much we care for those around us or practice religions where that is one of the core tenets but when it really comes down to it we have a massive shortage of empathy & compassion. For me the last year has proven that ten fold.

We have to be better. We have to see the struggling, the hurt, the disenfranchised, those without privilege, or those at high risk of whatever (not just COVID) & put our selfishness aside to truly help out “the least of these.” This pandemic & the last year have provided ample opportunity for that & we as a society have fallen short time & time again. Even within the last week & the surmounting hate against those in our asian communities, we have fallen short. It’s disheartening, it’s frustrating, & it’s down right infuriating. I hope we will do better. I hope on the other side of COVID-19 lies a brighter world & I guess in the end that’s what I’m holding out hope for. We have to be the change we want to see, the burden doesn’t fall on others. I choose to see the message that the divine has nailed into our heads all year long & accept the challenge. Will you do the same?

Blog: Being Productive In The Midst of A Global Pandemic

Hi Friends!

How are we today?

On a scale of one to ten, ten being the most, how productive would you say you were today? Is that a number you’re happy with? Is that a number that feels like it has been pretty constant over the course of the last couple months? I’ve been doing a bit of outreach all week; to friends, to colleagues, etc. to see kind of how people have been handling self improvement during the COVID-19 pandemic & what I’ve if an overabundance of proof that most of us are struggling. I get it, I really do. There’s no where to go, nothing to do, no way to travel, or in my line of work, play shows. It’s hard to be a frowardly mobile person when the world feels like it has stopped dead in its tracks, at least in the states…

So what’s to be done? How do we break the monotony? By adding more.

Hear me out. Productivity is a habit, Newton’s first law of motion explains:

“An object at rest stays at rest & an object in motions stays in motion...”

— Sir Isaac Newton

This is you. You are the object in this scenario. If you’ve developed a habit of stagnation, you must replace it with one of mobility. How do you have mobility when you can’t go anywhere? Establish routines. Now is the perfect time to be establishing a routine, a diet, a workout regimen, etc, because you have the time & mental space to do so. Here’s what I recommend, even if you can’t be productive in your chosen career field, that doesn’t mean you can’t still establish habits that can be applied post-COVID.

Here’s where we start; your alarm clock. First off, if you’re not setting an alarm, it’s time to start. I’m aware a lot of us, 22.4% of us, are out of work right now, but your routines are still important. Set your alarm for 30 minutes earlier than normal, then here’s how I want you to break down that 30.

Minutes 1-4: Drink a large glass of water, take your allergy meds, drink your coffee.

Minutes 5-10: Stretch, specifically doing cat/cows (look it up.) Cat/cows open up your spinal column & get your spinal fluid moving.

Minutes 11-14: Do 25 reps of an exercise. Could be push-ups, sit-ups, squats, lunges, pull-ups, etc vary this daily but get the blood moving.

Minutes 15-24: Meditate. Doesn’t have to be some spiritualist experience, just center your thoughts, center your mind & body & breathe for 10 minutes.

Minutes 25-30 Journal: Write out how you’re feeling, write out what you need to do that day, write out how something resolved, get out all the mental clutter & lay it out before you so you can start your day with a clear mind. 1 whole page of journaling, write til it’s full. No cheating, no short hand.

And there you are, that’s your new morning routine. Do it daily, you’ll be amazed how driven & clear the day ahead feels after this. Best of all, it puts your body in motion, gets you moving right off the bat so you can carry that energy throughout your day.

From here you branch out; add a strict diet regimen, add working out in, add daily tasks you can do that will advance your career. You’ll be amazed how clearly new ideas present themselves to you once you put the body in motion. It can’t just be your physical body you’re putting in motion, it has to be all aspects. Digestion, cardio vascular, muscular, mental, spiritual, all of it must be prepared for the day ahead for you to be successful.

I truly hope this helps you, it’s been helping me a lot! You have to stick to it though & be disciplined, it takes 42 days to form a habit so make yours about forward momentum.

Blog: No One Feels Skinny When Their Jeans Don't Fit

Hi!

I know, I know, it’s been a hot minute since I blogged, mostly because I felt I didn’t have much to blog about. I’m sure a lot of you are in this boat with my where life feels pretty stagnant especially during quarantine. We all feel like the Earth has stopped spinning; days become weeks, weeks become months, & before we knew it a half a year has slipped by. Sorry if that scares you by the way, yes we’re already on the verge of being halfway through with the year 2020. I wanted to make this blog last week but it felt to me that it needed a little more breathing time so I let it sit for a bit. I’m glad I did. You see I’ve become a bit of a council point for people, for whatever reason during this bizarre time. I’m flattered, I really am, but I was talking about two things last week with two separate parties, both of whom had gotten a little stir crazy & were feeling the effects mentally as a lot of us are. I tried to be as encouraging as my often pessimistic mind will allow but everything I’d say seemed to fall short, then it clicked with me. I think originally I said “it’s hard to feel beautiful when your jeans don’t fit” but I think I’d like to modify that.

It’s hard to feel skinny when your jeans don’t fit.

I mean that in the most metaphoric way possible. It doesn’t specifically have to apply to weigh or physicality but I think during this time, especially all these months later, it’s hard to have patience with ourselves or to allow ourselves grace. I’m beyond guilt of it, I mean, I’m currently writing this in a pretty terrible mood because I put on a shirt I used to wear all the time & it feels two sizes too small. That hurt. I’ve tried my best to stay healthy during all of this but the availability of exercise & healthy eating has diminished substantially. I’ll tell you I’m someone who hates home workouts, they just don’t do it for me, they allow me too much room for laziness. I also have a hard time going for runs daily or every other day, I have pretty bad shin splints. So to say I haven’t put on weight during this, between the lack of exercise & the amount of carbs & sugar I’ve consumed, would be a lie. So, I get it. It’s hard to feel sexy, skinny, whatever when your jeans don’t fit, or I guess in my case, when your sweater doesn’t fit.

Like I said above, I don’t just mean this about your clothes mysteriously shrinking, I mean this all around. I’ve struggled creatively through all of this, I derive a lot of my song ideas from conversation & social situations. I also had to cancel all of the shows that I put months into booking. It’s hard to be in the entertainment business & feel stagnant but knowing there’s really not much you can do to propel your career onward short of social media. I’m doing my best to be patient & be kind to myself, though there are days I falter.

Let me say this here. You are allowed to be upset, you’re allowed to be annoyed & frustrated, those are all valid responses to being locked in your home for two months. You’re allowed to not be okay. It truly is okay to not be okay, to feel less than. We’ve all been there. It’s okay to have breakdowns, to feel defeated, it is okay. But give yourself grace. Give yourself the patience you tell others to give themselves. Treat yourself like you tell your friends, your loved ones, your cohorts to do, because you deserve it.

I think that’s all I’ve got for you today, just a small moment of vulnerability. Please, please, please take care of yourself, know you are loved, know you are important. We will get through this, be responsible, respectful of other's health & safety, & be kind to yourself.

Much love to you all,

Charlie

Press: CIMV CoVid Show