March was a disaster, but rightly so. No one could have expected how bad the pandemic could get. But no guilt either, by virtue of force majeure. I do want to circle back to learning about investing sometime in the future. But till then, will keep in view. But all the upheavals in the past month made me apprehensive about planning for April, because who can make plans in times of great uncertainty? Trying to force-fit business as usual—be it via lifestyle routine at home, or doing the same work as I usually did—just didn’t feel right.   

But something that I did in March pointed the way forward for April. Things that are meaningful to me, and apt for the situation. I’m a do-er, and I seek control by fight, not flight or freeze. So channeling that energy into helping myself and others in my own way, using my own skills, had been my own ‘fight’ response. Like how I made a listing site called Tools For COVID19. It’s a directory of tools and resources to help small-medium businesses pivot their business models, experiment with new service/product offerings, in order to weather through the economic fallout due to the pandemic. Another way I tried to help was to offer my JAMstack web design and build skills for COVID-related causes. I wanted to help those who are helping others, by building websites for their good work. 

So April will be about letting go of plans for any sense of normalcy, about not trying to live as how I had always done. Because there’s nothing normal or usual about how we have to live now, so why not just let it go and go with the flow? I talked about giving myself permission to be unproductive, but that’s in the business as usual sense. What if I let things be business unusual, and instead give myself permission to be productive in other—more altruistic—ways? Why not just give in to following my energy, doing what’s meaningful and useful to the immediate situation? 

I feel called to respond to the needs of the times. April will be about giving, helping, lending. Work can wait. 

Altruistic April, it is.

It’ll be about building on the above two things I made. It’ll be about observing what other needs are out there, and how I can respond in my own way to help people in my world. My world, not the world. I can’t save the world, but I can try to put a dent in my little universe.