Writing About Your Coronavirus / COVID-19 Experience

If you haven’t started already, it’s a good time to start writing about your Coronavirus / COVID-19 experience. I put together a list of writing prompts that you can download here .

I’ve been trying to write this post for a week now, but I kept getting distracted by the news, concerns about my family, and my preparation for spending a lot more time at home. My stress level had been building and I noticed that I was getting a little short with some of my favorite people. So last night, I took my own advice and started writing about my experience of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was amazing how easily the thoughts flowed through my mind and then my fingertips. I started by thinking back to before I had ever heard of Coronavirus, let alone COVID-19. I had all but forgotten what had seemed so important in the months just before the world began to change. I thought back to my trip to the Emergency Room in early December for what turned out to be a kidney stone. It’s only now that I can call myself lucky for having a kidney stone in December 2019 and not March of 2020.

I slept well last night and when I got up this morning I felt better. Writing about what is happening is giving me a better understanding of what I am feeling and seems to be releasing some of the tension.  When I first thought of writing this post, I thought maybe my Coronavirus / COVID-19 experience would be a chapter in a memoir. I now am doubting that one chapter will be enough, but I am certain that my character—my strengths and my weaknesses—will be fully revealed before it is done.

History lessons in the future will surely include the statistics related to COVID-19 and a summary of how it impacted the world. However, those lessons may not capture the human stories of uncertainty, disruption, fear, loss, and hope.

Writing about your experience will add a dimension of understanding for you as you write it, and for those who read it. Whether you are writing for yourself, others who are living through it too, or for a generation who cannot yet read, it’s worth writing.

If you’re not sold, just try writing for 15 minutes and see how it goes.

All the Best,