A series of essays....
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A WINTER SCENE THAT IS SEEN MORE AND MORE OFTEN: WIND FARM OPERATORS ARE FINDING SUCCESS NAVIGATING AROUND MOTHER NATURE IN COLD CLIMATES. |
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....as seen through my eyes!
By: Jacqueline E Hughes
Many of us might believe that our natural creativity and talent would come pouring out while we have the time to concentrate on the things we love to do and organize the imagination and originality trapped inside of us. COVID-19 seems to have allotted us the time, but is it reasonable to believe that we are able to take the upmost advantage of it under the current circumstances?
What sounds reasonable, feasible, and justifiable may not always be the truest picture that tells a particular story. There will always be a story behind a story and it is useful and, frankly, advisable to do your research before drawing any hard-and-fast conclusions. I began asking myself if anyone else was feeling a bit lost within themselves right now? When given ample time to work like a bat out of hell on many projects I’ve begun, why aren’t they progressing more smoothly, coming to fruition? So, I started doing my research.
Humans tend to place blame when things go awry on other people, organizations, or things they don’t like or approve of. Such was the case of the innocent, hard working wind turbines located in Texas last week. Fox News host, Tucker Carlson, said, “The state’s power grid failed because windmills froze.” Carlson, who exists in a parallel universe, is known to strenuously push his far right agendas on to those who will listen to him as he sits in his bully pulpit of so-called authority at Fox News. Unfortunately, some people will hang-on to his every word instead of employing a modicum of common sense and reason to what they hear.
In this instance, climate change denial is not an excuse, especially when it comes to correcting our mistakes and embracing progress. Learning how to weatherize our resources or knowing how to store energy for emergencies are top priorities when it comes to dealing with changes in climate. Denying these changes will prove to be detrimental to all of us in the near future.
My Mother told her four children that we should always finish what we started before moving on to other things even though she was one of the best multitaskers I have ever known! She wanted us to feel that sense of accomplishment and take pride in it before we attempted anything else. Even though we desperately tried to comply, it was a struggle as young, undisciplined minds often veered off in multiple directions at any given time.
With Mom’s voice in the back of my head, and despite the meanderings of my thoughts, I slowly slip down the rabbit hole of research and understanding on the Internet surrounded by juicy nuggets of opinions and examples. Finding several recent articles that jump out at me, my own beliefs are reinforced via instances of others experiencing similar anxiety.
In an article published on February 19, 2021, by Alison Flood for The Guardian, she offers writer’s block examples entitled Writer's blockdown: after a year inside, novelists are struggling to write. Author William Sutcliffe wrote on Twitter: “I have been a professional writer for more than twenty years. I have made my living from the resource of my imagination. Last night I had a dream about unloading the dishwasher.”
If the first lockdown was about finding space to write (along with an energetic spirit and a Meijer ‘ship shopper’ schedule), “...then the second has been far bleaker and harder for creativity. Whether it is dealing with home schooling, the same four walls, or anxiety caused by the news, for many authors, the stories just aren’t coming,” she explains.
I know exactly what they’re talking about, especially the ‘anxiety caused by the news’ part! I have woken up in a fog, eventually seated with iPad on my lap, fingers hovering over the keyboard, my imagination abandoning me: “With my shadowy characters screaming for me to get them out of this or that mess, I shake my head knowing that I don’t always have the emotional and intellectual strength to do that. Life is just a sea of greyness, timelessness,” sighs author, Linda Grant.
Personally, it began on November 9, 2016, with dark thoughts surrounding an even darker future and a soulless creature slated to be at the helm and leading our country deeper and deeper into the abyss. My dark feelings intensified to unimaginable heights about a year ago. We’d just returned from a memorable trip in Florida with good friends and landed smack into the clutches of the COVID-19 pandemic upon returning to Michigan. As the tan began to fade, fear and anxiety of not being able to be with loved ones and friends, along with the prospect of contracting COVID-19, began to grow and I realized that we were in it for the long haul—for better or worse.
Before the scientists injected us with hope via small vials of precious vaccine, our darkest hours hit as hospitals filled to capacity and beyond, healthcare workers shed their tears of sorrow and fatigue, and death toll numbers quickly began to rise. Many people denied (and still do) what was happening. But, many of us learned how to coat the blades of the windmill with carbon fiber (love) and circulate hot air inside the blades of our wind turbines in preparation for bad times, freezing weather. We wore face masks and kept our distance from others in public. We sacrificed human contact with family and friends. We struggled but we kept those wind turbines from freezing!! And today, our actions are beginning to pay off.
Hopefully the fog that encompasses creativity will burn off...soon! Old projects will be completed and new ones will begin without the anxiety or pain. May we all learn how to weatherize our resources and store energy for emergencies. These will always be our top priorities when it comes to dealing with climate change, the coronavirus, and all of life’s battles that ceaselessly confront our well-being.
Copyright © 2021 by Jacqueline E Hughes
All rights reserved
