How Covid-19 Gave Me Time to Unlock My True Creativity

When I was a kid I always dabbled in different things, from sports to music to computers to video games etc. As I grew older, I started to find things that I liked and that I did not like. Some things grew into passions and some even grew into professions. In school, our teachers taught us to find a passion and to stick with it, but for me I liked so many different things, I could not just stick with one. I understood why they told us that, because they probably felt that if we gave all our attention and effort into one thing that we could potentially be the best at it. That notion stuck with me into adulthood, I always felt like I had to be creative one venture at a time. My parents were good parents, but they never pushed me to be great at things that they could not see the upside to. So, in essence if they could not see the potential in it, they did not support me in it. So, a lot of my dreams and visions died before they could even be attempted.

Fast forward to my 20’s my creativity hit a stand still because I was dealing with school and family issues at the time and couldn’t really find time to be “creative”. When I left for college my parents told me there was no money in the arts and to not waste my time “pipe dreaming”. So, I didn’t, I went to school, got on the grind, hit a few bumps along the way, but I finished and graduated. After college I jumped straight into corporate America headfirst, trying to find my professional identity in different fields. Ultimately just felt like a robot, going to work every single day, clocking in and doing the same thing every single day.

In 2020 we came into the year with the cliché saying about how we were all going to have 20/20 vision and that 2020 was going to be a great year but it ended up being a complete disaster. To me it all started with the death of Kobe Bryant, it was like a blindsided punch in the gut. It seemed as though his death caused a hypothetical shift in the trajectory of how 2020 was supposed to go. Then the infamous COVID-19 hit and affected not only life as we know it but affected us in many different personal ways. Before the pandemic I was in the process of looking for a job, I had just bought an electric guitar and just started getting into taking it seriously. In the heat of the pandemic I got a job opportunity working for a major company to develop safety parameters for a building to keep employees safe. I accepted the job and was working full time graveyard shift (12–8am) which freed up my days to do whatever and to also sleep. In that time, I would use my days to feed my creativity. I would be doing things that I never truly had the time to do. With everything shut down and people locking themselves in the house, I had nothing but time to be productive into my creativity. I had time that I never had before to explore things that I never thought I could explore.

Back to the electric guitar, I bought it and would use my days to learn how to play it. I got pretty good at it, learned how to play a few songs, used my music theory that I knew from my saxophone days and was enjoying it. Fender.com offered a 3-month trial for online lessons and that is how I was learning how to play mainly. I went into the guitar really wanting to learn how to DJ, my heart was not really into the guitar, so I ended up returning the guitar and went on a music creative hiatus for a while. I channeled that energy into writing, playing video games and into my job.

I had woken up one day and said to myself that I want to pick up a new skill, I didn’t know what, but I knew that I had always wanted to dip into photography. So, I went to an old camera resell store and talked to the shop owner about where I was in my creative head space, and he had recommended I try film photography. I took him up on his suggestion and bought a Canon AE-1 with a roll of black and white film. I remember at the time I only had one lens to work with and not a clue about how to even load the thing with film. I knew with this photography stuff I didn’t want it to be like the guitar, something I get frustrated with and put down, I wanted to invest time into knowing how to actually be skilled with the camera. I made you tube my best friend, I followed different photographers’ channels and read up on many different techniques of how to shoot good pictures. I remember after my first roll I took it to get developed and my pictures were awful. I remember asking the guy who developed them what was wrong with my pictures, come to find out my camera had a thing called light leak.

My pictures had big streaks of light going down them. Some people who saw the pictures thought it was a cool effect, but to me it was some great shots that were ruined by it. I ended up taking my camera to a shop to get repaired and sealed to have the issue fixed, and I never looked back.

I made it my mission to pick up my camera and take pictures of something every day, even if it was one picture. The thing about film photography is that it can get expensive really fast. The cost of film and the price to develop it adds up. I changed up how I was shooting and became more concise about how I was taking pictures so that no money was being wasted. My pictures started to come out better and better and I started to become way more confident in the art that I was creating. When I decided to share it with my social media followers, the pictures were well received. People from all over were re-sharing my post and I started to get a little bit of a following from my pictures. I picked up a new skill and it is all because of the time that COVID created for me to use. I also picked up DJing too, I ended up getting a DJ set up and I am currently learning how to do that.

I forgot to mention that before I picked up my camera, I had bought some courses to learn how to code and got some certificates to better my chances to get jobs. All in all, I want to send my condolences to the families of all of those worldwide who have lost their lives due to COVID 19. I want to also thank those on the front lines, from the medical workers to those in our grocery stores that were essential in keeping us safe and productive during this trying time. My story about COVID was simply to put in perspective that in the midst of a pandemic I found new loves and passions even in my mid-20s. A lot of people have the notion that once you reach a certain age that your creativity dies or that you can no longer dream. I am here as living proof to tell you that if you have the time, never be afraid to try new things.