How Covid 19 Turned Out To Be A Blessing In Disguise.

Putting a positive spin on a global crisis.

In many ways, the Covid-19 pandemic has been a blessing in disguise. For me personally, it could not have come at a better time. What the crisis did was force lots of us to recalibrate our lives and, in my case, it turned out to be for the best.

First of all, it forced me to stop flitting between two continents at great expense. I made the permanent move from the South of Spain to Japan. The actual move was not what I would call a pleasant experience. But in the end, it has turned out fine.

In Spain, my work was divided between performing as a solo artist singer-songwriter and as a teacher of languages (English and Spanish).The crisis wiped out both occupations and I had to think about what I was going to do about it. I happened to mention to my wife that at some time in my murky past I had had a very successful career as a writer. Of course, over the years, I kept up the writing, but more as a hobby than anything vocational. She suggested that I ought to get back to it.

In the past, I was a very successful freelance writer working from home, so it was no big deal to make the change. Fortunately, my wife has an Applmac and with that I could easily set about re-igniting my life as a home based writer. One of the great advantages is that my office is but a few feet from my bed.

Of the great many other benefits, I don’t have to go out to work. It costs me nothing in time nor travelling expenses. What’s more, I don’t have to sit tight up to Mister Sweaty and Missus Smelly on the metro.

And neither will I miss having to run the gauntlet of bothersome professional street beggars who earn more than I do by the simple expedient of imploringly holding out their grubby hands.

I am in total control of my working hours and can have a break anytime I feel like it. Also, I don’t have to work under the orders of a boss who knows a lot less than I do. And I don’t get caught up in office politics.

Nasty, egotistical, bullshitting Dave who because he can’t get on, due to the fact that in reality he is totally clueless, simply seeks to scupper everybody else’s career ambitions.

Or Mingy Mike, who because he cannot write his way out of a paper bag to save his own miserable life, resorts to stealing my work when I am not looking and presents it as the fruit of his own talent and hard labour.

Then there’s Jumped Up Jill, the boss’s secretary who has ideas above her station and believes it is within her remit to order me to clean up the reception area. Adios baby. I digress.

The biggest benefit is that roundabout the end of my previous two occupations, I suddenly started to have one or two health problems (PMR which limits my mobility) which demand that I take up a sedentary occupation.

To me, it is as if life was saying “ Ok Liam, you’ve got some pretty big issues on the horizon and you need to change to be able to weather the storm. And since you do not know what is coming and I do, I am going to force you to make the necessary changes.”

Truth be told, teaching and performing are very demanding professions. The mental, emotional and physical demands do, in time, take their toll. That being said, my health is getting better and I can see a time at some point in the future when I will return to performing. However, all future teaching will be one-to-one online, some of which I am already doing.

In the meantime, I am thoroughly enjoying the re-birth of my life as a writer. It requires nothing more of me than to sit as my desk and think and type, all in my own good time. As my father used to say, it beats working for a living.