Getting Through the Tough Times by Losing Yourself in Your Art

Making art while the world burns feels wrong - but the right kind of art might just help

Apr 20, 2025

I’ve been writing more than ever recently, and not because I’m getting more client work than usual. I’ve actually been getting less, if anything. I guess that’s what happens when the world is in chaos.

But still I write. It’s how I start every morning and end every evening. I write in spite of the fact that times are tough right now. In fact, I write because times are tough right now.

If we thought Covid chaos made the world unpredictable back in the early 2020s, we were right, but world politics right now is actually worse, for many of us and for many reasons.

Losing yourself in your art can help. It feels wrong, sometimes, to be making art while the world burns, but it doesn’t hurt anyone - and often it can help both you as a writer and those who read your work.

Here’s some of what I’ve written this week:

A piece about how DEI policies actually work – and how a lack of them can result in unqualified people in top positions.
An article about gender equality and how the gender pay gap widens when women have children.
An listicle-style piece about resources to help you travel cheaper (because many of us are in need of an escape and an adventure right now).
A little fiction - because writing (and reading) fiction can be one of the best ways to manage negative thoughts. It’s extremely hard to worry about the future while following (or inventing) a fictional story.

To be fair, reading doesn’t always work. I finished reading Winter of the World this week and the similarities between the fictional-but-historically-accurate take on the events of the 1930s and 40s and what’s going on in the world right now haven’t done much to calm my anxiety.

I started reading It Can’t Happen Here and, similar problem. But sometimes reading these types of books can help you understand those who think differently from you, and maybe even help you communicate with them.

So I’m getting through the tough times by (sometimes) losing myself in my art. Join me.

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Some thoughts from others I’ve been enjoying this week

What else I’ve been up to this week

Reading: It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis (described as the 1935 novel that predicted the rise of Donald Trump)

Watching: YouTube videos about van life in the UK and Europe, because I feel like stepping back from society right now (I like this channel and this one)

Listening to: This

David McIlroy

podcast where

Ana Calin

explains how she grew her Substack audience to 40k subscribers in four months.

This week’s Medium posts

Friend links, as always, so you can read for free if you’re not a member.

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