My Last Assignment for the Foreseeable Future
Within a few hours, everything would change. A game was cancelled with players already on the court and fans in the stands. As the rumor that a player tested positive became fact, all games were cancelled. My assignment then became to cover the empty plaza at Chase Center, and that was my last assignment for the foreseeable future.
Within a few days, I realized my work load was going to diminish dramatically as guidelines moved from no more than 250 people, no more than 10 people, to shelter-in-place. I stopped keeping track of cancelled assignments after it passed $12K in lost income. A month into a shelter-in-place, I questioned when I'd have a job to return to. As the shelter-in-place is extended, I wonder if I will ever be able to return to my career as I knew it. On KLC fotos, I posted what people can do to support photographers during this time. (Spoiler: Biggest way is to follow social distancing guidelines!) While I hope to maintain KLC fotos to support photographers, I don't personally know what the next step is for me. I went from navigating the balance of being a new mom and returning to work, with support of a spouse and parents, to a full time
My struggle is more of identity and intention. My decade plus career stopped overnight and I don't know whether it will return in a few weeks, a few months, or will it perhaps be years before we are again filling stadiums and collectively cheering. What will the landscape be when sports do return? I've already seen employees that I would see around the fields/arenas who have been let go by their employers. There is no guarantee there will be a market for the work I
I felt like I was doing good work with KLC fotos, helping photographers, building client relationships, growing a business, but I'm wondering if I should be developing a skill set to be doing something more "essential". At the same time, I am now doing the very critical role of parenting an infant and therefore don't have bandwidth to take advantage of the shelter-in-place with pandemic productivity. I'm not leading zoom meetings, learning a new languages, volunteering. I feel the most I can do is just get through each day and remind myself that by staying home (apart from walks around the neighborhood) I am doing my part to flatten the curve. While there is hope that sports and my career can simultaneously return by the fall, without knowing that as a certainty, am I to wait it out and see, and go months without employment? Is this my opportunity to take the maternity leave I never really gave myself and soon everything will return to normal? Or, is my career as I knew it over and I shouldn't be dragging my feet wasting time before discovering and developing my next chapter?
You may find me trying different methods to have income, identity and purpose in these next few months and I hope you'll give me room for error, feedback, and support as we can all try to be gentle with each other and with ourselves. I hope you and your loved ones can be spared the worst of this pandemic. Lots of Love, Kelley Comments
aboree(non-registered)
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