Anchoring in your agency is a way to not get caught in despair. Despair is an emotional pit that swallows people and leaves them feeling hopelessness. One way to help people out of the pit of despair is to remind them of their agency through art.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, people are losing many of the societal signals of freedom — regular jobs, connection with loved ones, and being able to leave the house. When faced with multiple obstacles, despair can seem like the only option. Feeling the sadness, fear, anxiety, and other strong emotions is important, and people need ways to not get stuck.

When mourning the death of my Aunt Na, who died during the physical distancing days of COVID-19, I sank more into despair each day. Then I remembered the time she tried to teach me piano. She was a church pianist and never used sheet music, which I baffled my mind at 10 years old. A few days after her passing, I went down to my piano, put aside the sheet music, then made up songs, sang, and felt my emotions flow through me.

Art helps people process emotions, imagine beyond their present circumstance, and experience the creation of something new in the present the present moment. To dream of what is possible, is a way of remembering that we can transform our present circumstance.

Between zoom calls, I am pulled to make art. Amid despair, creating art is a way that people can remember their humanity because creating asks you to make choices, to remember your ability to make a choice, and then to release the binary labels of good and bad. A choice can be just a choice, and anchoring in that wisdom helps with the first steps out of despair.

How are you tapping into the power of art amidst grief and despair?