My advice to everyone frustrated by the health pandemic is to take care of your mental health. Currently I'm avoiding a bunch of websites I'm addicted to because they're badly impacting my emotions during this health pandemic. The constant conversations about this pandemic on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Discord have been driving me nuts. Scrolling through feeds on social media are a constant reminder of this horrible virus. Many people I know are impacted by this health pandemic far worse than me, so I'm just fortunate that I have what I currently have in life.
It's okay to be more sensitive than you want to be, especially during a horrible health pandemic. I tried being an emotional brick wall when I was younger, but after two major health collapses in my adulthood before I reached my late twenties, I'm way more sensitive about the state of my life than I used to be. I find it harder to deal with certain type of criticism now compared to five years ago, which isn't good, but at least I'm self-aware it's a problem that I need to fix.
We are all negatively impacted by this horrible virus and I feel compelled to rant about how it negatively impacted my plans for 2020. I still have plans for Newgrounds this year, but much of what I intended to do in 2020 will instead be done in 2021 due to the health pandemic negatively impacting my life. My plan at the beginning of last month (March 2020) was to get a local job so I could save up a bunch of money for creative pursuits, but now I can't do that without putting my health at risk. So with less income, it's going to be a lot longer before I can afford things like a printer, scanner, audio interface, instruments, microphones, and other supplies that would benefit my music, art, and graphic design.
I'm optimistic 2020 will still be a good year for me despite how horrible it started off, but this will be a very different year than many of us expected. I'll give occasional progress reports in the future when I have positive things to report about that have nothing to do with the health pandemic. Right now I'm focused on redesigning my bedroom so it functions more like an office than a standard bedroom. I got a roll-up bed just so I can save a ton of space for my future creative pursuits. I don't have a great track record on accomplishing my goals due to how badly my perfectionism killed a lot of projects in my twenties (example: my cancelled Rayman review), but that won't happen this decade. I have learned a ton from my failures. It's better to release something imperfect than to outright cancel projects.
Biggest obstacle I have to deal with is my 24/7 migraine. I have struggled with a 24/7 migraine for over 11 years. It's a lot better this year compared to 2016-2019, but I'm still suffering in chronic pain. I still have days where I do hardly anything besides suffer laying in bed, but at least I'm nowhere near as bedridden as I was in my late twenties. It just amazes me that when my health improved to where I feel like I'm capable of fixing my life, much of the country gets so sick I'm stuck indoors all the time.
I hope I can eventually create content for Newgrounds that is worth enjoying. My primary goal for Newgrounds this decade is to upload music, art, and animation. I bought a license to use Adobe's programs for a year so I have the software to accomplish my goals. I also brought a light table into my bedroom this month to make animating a lot easier. My dad initially got it 25 years ago back when he did photography for living, so it's nice that I'm able to repurpose it for my needs. Here's a few photos of my kitty Little Betty on my light table.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to read all of this. I wish you all the very best in life.
-Willie Corley
