Writing in the Pandemic

As we approach our sixth week of the shelter-in-place, I’m now turning to writing again. It took the baby steps of drawing, something small, for me to welcome this practice back into my life. Even though I had been journaling throughout the quarantine, it took awhile to feel creatively inspired.

Understandably so, as the shock of the pandemic abruptly came and upended our lives. It took time for the emotions to settle into something I could wrap my head around. To carve some kind of meaning out of this experience into words and stories.

I’m currently writing about being pregnant during this global pandemic. I don’t know yet whether it will be an essay or a series of essays or where it will go. All I know is that I am compelled to capture this complex moment in the best way I know how — to write about it. It’s challenging, and there’s a lot I want to express. It’s also incredibly healing and empowering — a way to feel agency in my life in the midst of so much chaos and uncertainty.

I’ve also been reflecting on why creating and writing matters so much to me right now. My whys have changed throughout the years, but in this current moment, it feels important, even life-giving, to do so and to share it. This period of quarantine and social distancing has revealed how much I need connection, how much we all need it. I write for the very same reasons why I love to read — to feel connected with others, to feel less alone.

It’s my hope that giving voice to my story, of navigating the fears in this second pregnancy in this particular moment of history, can serve as a space for others to be seen. Through the act of writing, I am affirming my story and the story of others who can relate. It’s a why that adds a ray of light to my days, and perhaps that is the most important reason of all for why I do it.