2021: A Reflection
Any reprieve from the onslaught of Covid-19 seemed far off at the beginning of 2021 as the UK entered into an unprecedented 3rd national lockdown. The hospitalisations and deaths were staggering and if 2021 didn’t bring with it a completely new outlook on life, it certainly shed some much needed light on mental health issues and had a huge impact on the way we think about life. Certainly for me, there was a distinct shift driven by a forced reflection of better times. We were all grasping for some sort of positive and my positive took me back to simple things in life - appreciating what was there all along but had been overshadowed by a constant stream of work and deadlines. I had become disconnected from nature and the very essence of what contributed to healthy free-flowing self-expression. I knew that I couldn’t just exist within the confines of my apartment walls. I needed to drain stagnant waters and tap into fresh springs of creativity lying dormant in my very core.
It was on a cold March night that I found myself unable to sleep. There was something that kept turning over and over in my mind, daring me to act and sure enough, 5 minutes later I was writing - mapping out a timeline of what would be my first children’s literature publication. The Awesome Adventures of Alfred was conceived during my university years over a decade ago and the first story was written back in 2015. Why had it taken this long to introduce it to the world? Well, mostly different priorities, but also many seemingly endless distractions. So, in that moment of restlessness, I made the unwavering decision to drive this goal to completion and so the final steps of this journey began.
With Alfred Goes to the Land of Fun now available to the public - and I’ll admit this was a bit of a scary step for me, exposing what I had written to the world and creating an opportunity for others to critique what I had produced - the question I get asked the most is what was the hardest part. It wasn’t the initial contact I made with Bear With Us Productions, the company that took on the illustration and formatting for this project. It wasn’t the writing or the editing of the story, receiving feedback and making corrections to get the story right. It wasn’t conceptualising the illustrations and providing the artist with a brief of what I had envisioned. Creating content and material for marketing and promotion of the book was admittedly a challenge, especially while having to maintain keen focus on a demanding job in the biopharma industry, but even this wasn’t the most difficult part. It seems quite funny thinking back on it, but the hardest part of this process was actually hitting the publish button on Amazon KDP. It all centred around a fear of the unknown and wondering about what people would think!
Now let’s just pause on that for a moment! Imagine being held back from the things we love or from expressing our true selves because of a fear of what people might think of us! I needed to separate myself from those thoughts and reset. And I suppose, this was one of the blessings coming out these national lockdowns - having a bit more time to ourselves for internal reflection and a time to reconnect with nature alone and without the background noise to distract. Cool water streaming through the unmanicured wild greenery, provided the perfect backdrop for healing a heart of turbulent thinking. And then it all became really easy…and simple. I wish I could say that being in nature is the definitive formula for correcting mental health and restoring balance in the mind, but this is only a part of the process. You need positive affirmations and regular conversations with yourself - simple reminders. And I don’t mean talking aloud to yourself at work or on public transport. The best thing you can do for yourself is creating the time to invest in you - physically, emotionally and mentally. This would be my advice for anyone as I reflect on 2021.
In 2022 I am now left eternally grateful and also relieved to have made those final steps to self-publish without fear. New paths have been laid and 2021 was a massive foundation for other projects in progress. In my next blog post, I’ll be introducing you to my next book and the artist who brought it to life in the most wonderful way.
Thanks for reading guys!
Wishing you all a very happy, prosperous and healthy New Year,
Shandel.
