Hello fellow human beings. Today is another day many people face the world through a screen, through an online world, due to being in lockdown. Although this is a sad time for those who have lost loved ones in hospital beds, and for those who are anxiously waiting for results, we still need to remain positive.

Even though during this time there is still political dilemmas, money corruption, and god knows what else, life will return to normal eventually, even if it takes a while. During lockdown and quarantine, and anything that might be stopping you from doing what you love in the future, I urge you to keep persisting with whatever that might be.

Last night I had an online dance class, and we talked for over an hour about all sorts of things, but one statement stuck with me – it was that, everyone is saying what we can’t do, but very rarely are they encouraging us to do what we can do.

You can’t have more than five people in the same house at the same time, you can’t cross state borders, you will be fined for breaking the rules of this period.

It is all good and well giving instructions on what everyone can’t do, because then we know our restrictions, but part of the reason some people break those rules is because they haven’t thought about what they can do, aside from going out to exercise, shopping for necessities.

Generally, if you don’t say it, people don’t think it, and then the only source of entertainment is sitting on the couch drinking beer and watching the footy, or having the excruciating urge to go and see your grandma in Sydney, while you’re in the Northern Territory.

Especially for me as a dancer, I hear constantly from local studios that are also in lockdown whining about how students, seniors even, can’t focus for more than an hour on a zoom call, and then my class is there busting our chops for three hours straight with our teacher in front of us on a tiny screen doing it with us.

It doesn’t matter what situation you are in, there is always another choice, and another alternative. For example, in a dancing context again, one of the girls in my class has to dance in her garage, and she said; “well I obviously can’t jump, so I’ll work on my turns instead!” We all have a different situation to handle, but there are pro’s and con’s to everything.

I am reminded of the saying, “we are all in the same boat”… Well, we are not. Some people live in tiny rental properties, some live in three storey mansions. Some people live in a trash heap, and some live on a private island. The truth is, everyone isn’t in the same boat, but we are all in the same storm. We all have the same global crisis to deal with, but we don’t all have the perfect tools to be perfectly accustomed to it.

But that doesn’t matter. Not when you love something more than life. If you are an artist, who has gone out of business because no-one can come to your gallery, set up a kick-ass website and show your stuff on there. If you are a hairdresser who’s cramped up in a two room apartment with your daughter, be smart with spending your money, and practise doing hairdresser things on your daughter.

If you are a dancer who lives for the praise of others, the applause of an audience and the hard sweat and tears you share with your teammates when in a class, get ’em on a facetime call and shed your sweat and tears with them so you can complain about being sore the next day and know that they are feeling the exact same way! Or if you don’t have enough space, and your room is the size of a toilet, fling your leg up on the wall (but don’t scratch it) and stretch like nobodies business!

Anyway, I guess what I’m trying to say is that, we all have problems, but it is the way we adapt and deal with them that sorts the men out from the boys. So remember to stay positive during these uncertain times, work hard, sweat hard, paint hard, whatever, just stay passionate and know that even if it takes a while, life will return to normal – eventually.