This issue (part of the paid subscription) is open to everyone, just in case it may help someone deal with the challenges of the upcoming weeks a little bit better.
Hi friends, welcome to Ad Astra. It’s so wonderful to have you here.
You’ve likely seen this sentiment going around the internet this week:
It’s been surreal to see our lives grind to a halt as we all watch this pandemic march through the globe. I hope you’re taking care of yourself and your loved ones and staying safe.
We don’t know how long this period will last, so let’s try not to waste our strength on feeling anxious, fearful, or angry. This, too, shall pass, one way or another. Love, compassion, and level-headed behavior is what we need right now.
This week, I had a strange realization: this crisis is exactly what my fears have warned me about when they told me to stay at my stable job, hunker down, and forget about my dreams.
It’s surreal. Usually, our worst fears don’t come true. But when the travel industry — and with it, the rest of the world — has stopped operating in a matter of days, MY worst fears did realize.
As a travel photographer and writer who also leads other people on trips, this is my worst-case scenario. I’ve had several work trip assignments canceled, the bookings for my travel company are up in the air, and it’s unclear how the industry as a whole will recover.
A freelance travel journalist’s income is haphazard at best during normal times and right now, it’s nonexistent.
So why do I feel so calm? How am I able to carry on while my industry is on fire? This is what I’d like to cover today.
Under pressure
There’s a part of my life I rarely talk about that, I believe, has prepared me well for this time. It’s the reason I can pursue risks with less fear. It’s why I keep calm in situations of stress and anxiety.
Back when I was a green 21-year-old, I joined the US military, specifically the Navy. And while there were a lot of challenges and hardships associated with my service (someday I’ll get into that), the Navy taught me how to operate under extreme pressure.
In the Navy, I was part of an expeditionary aviation unit where every day we launched our pilots up in the air in old flying machines from the 1960s. One wrong part installed, one inspection step missed, and our pilots could die.
So we followed processes to the proverbial t. We had checklists and SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) for everything you could think of, and we trained, trained, trained every single day.
Why did we train so much? Because after all that training came the time for us to deploy and actually execute what we trained for, in even more stressful conditions.
In my four years of service, I spent two and a half years training in Washington State and one and a half year deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan during the global war on terror campaign of the early 2000s.
You may wonder, “What does this all have to do with me and the uncertainty I face at the beginning of 2020?”
What I’d like to propose to you is that this pandemic and the disruption it’s likely bringing to your doorstep is akin to deployment for military personnel.
Both are stressful. Both are scary. And both can be prepared for, physically and mentally.
In the spirit of my Navy times, I offer you my version of a deployment checklist (yes, that was a real thing we used) below. I hope that this checklist can help you feel a little bit better about the current situation and perhaps prepare for the next time uncertainty hits.
1. Get your bare minimum
During our Iraq deployments, we often experienced sand storms. These were weird moments when the daytime sky went dark from all the sand that a strong wind called shamal brought over the land.
When you’re in the middle of a storm that can last for days, you take everything down to a bare minimum. Food, shelter, medicine, clothes — check. If you have that covered, you’re already doing better than so many people on earth.
2. Assess your rainy-day fund
If you’re a freelancer like me, do you have your rainy-day fund? How is it looking?
Perhaps right now it’s not possible, but when the storm subsides, can you find other sources of income that you can rely on? What other skills can you offer that are related to your main area of expertise?
Here are a few of the skills I earn with when the travel assignments dwindle: social media management, graphic design, copywriting, marketing consulting, and website development.
We all know something that can be useful for other people. And if you’re struggling to identify what that might be in your case, consider enlisting the help of your friends or people in your network. Sometimes they can see what you can’t and can offer great insights into your skillset.
(And if you’d like, reply to this newsletter and we can brainstorm your situation together, too.)
3. Use this time as an opportunity to downsize
Every time the deployment loomed over me, I went through the process of downsizing my life. Because our deployments usually lasted 6-8 months, they caused significant disruptions. What should I do with my rental apartment? Where do I store my car? What do I do with all my stuff?
I love this quote by Glennon Doyle that reframes the time of crisis and disruption as a gift.
You have been offered "the gift of crisis." As Kathleen Norris reminds us, the Greek root of the word crisis is "to sift," as in, to shake out the excesses and leave only what's important. That's what crises do. They shake things up until we are forced to hold on to only what matters most. The rest falls away.
— Glennon Doyle
If your bare minimums are taken care of and if you’re able to keep earning for a roof over your head, consider using this strange time to reassess … well, everything in your life.
As we’re forced to stop going out, shopping, spending money on entertainment, and following our routines, this could be a way for us to find a new (and improved) normal.
The lockdown could help you identify what you truly need to keep spending on and perhaps reach your financial goals faster. (The only thing I won’t cut is my vino fund… but everything else is up for grabs right now!)
The social distancing could help you realize that some people in your network were influencing you in a negative way and give you a good excuse to limit the interaction.
The quarantine could help you understand what simple things make you happy and find ways to experience them more often in your day.
The opportunities here are endless… and the perspective you use to go through this difficult time is crucial.
We may be inside of a storm right now, but every storm, ever, in the history of this planet, has eventually ended. This one will end as well.
Onwards,
Yulia
“The world is always going to be dangerous, and people get badly banged up, but how can there be more meaning than helping one another stand up in a wind and stay warm?”
— Anne Lamott
⬆️ Much Loved, a photo project by Mark Nixon documenting childhood toys loved down to bare threads
Disclaimer: I know I belong to the privileged part of society. I am able to work from home, safely, while many others right now cannot afford to do that. If you or someone you know is struggling, know that you are not alone. There are resources available and I’ve listed just a few below:
Here’s a very thorough list of resources crowdsourced by the Freelancers Union ranging from legal help to emergency funds to state-specific resources (thank you to Carrie from Lyman Creative for pointing this one out!)
Ann Friedman (creator of Ann Friedman Weekly) is currently donating all her newsletter ad revenue to organizations or individuals whose lives and livelihoods are affected by the pandemic. You can nominate someone here.
Facebook is making $100 million in cash and ad credit grants to small businesses impacted by COVID-19. Details to come soon here.
Here’s a list of financial institutions offering relief to customers experiencing hardship.
Know of another resource I should list in the next issue? Hit reply and let me know.
Finally, if you find any joy or value in this labor of love, please consider supporting it by becoming a paid subscriber below. And if you already subscribe: THANK YOU.
Issue #12: This Is What My Fears Warned Me About