Sheila Chandra shares free download of forthcoming book in response to COVID-19 crisis

Dear friends,

I started social distancing/self-isolating on 10th March. I am physically vulnerable and could see what was likely to come. Once the UK locked down on 23rd March, I was wracking my brains to think of what I could do to help people. I knew that not going out, and not spreading COVID-19 was helping those on the frontline of healthcare— but it didn’t feel like enough. Not being able to go out, even to exercise or shop, meant I couldn’t volunteer to help others with errands. And I’m not an essential key worker or healthcare worker.

But I wanted to offer something. Many musicians have been giving live events online. As many of you know I can no longer sing. But my books are designed to help people.

What many people have discovered during this first two weeks of lockdown is that they’ve become so conditioned by externally imposed rhythms (e.g. from timetables at school/work) for so long, that they’ve forgotten how to manage their own time from a place of unforced authenticity, when left alone. Others are extroverts who are suffering from lack of social contact. Some feel the need to ‘use this time’ wisely, but are possibly putting themselves under too much pressure to ‘improve’. Or they’re worrying that their children will fall behind in their learning.

It occurred to me that a book I had written, ‘How to Live Like an Artist – wisdom and life lessons from the artist lifestyle’ (which I was too ill to chase a publishing deal for, last year) might be the perfect tool to help – even though it wasn’t specifically written with this crisis in mind. Artists are used to working largely in isolation and managing their own time for months, or even years, on end. We know most of the strategies that help to make it work, so that we keep our sanity. So the advice is pretty timeless.

So here it is. No pressure to work through it, but I hope it will help those who have the time and energy to look at it, if they feel it’s what they need at the moment. It will be available to anyone in its entirety as a pdf so long as the COVID-19 lockdown lasts.

Please share the link widely on freebie lists, via social media, or with friends. My only purpose at the moment, is that it gets out there to help people, if they like the sound of it.

This is no time to put pressure on ourselves – we are all in shock, some of us are rightly fearful about work and finances, and in the days to come, many of us will be in mourning. However, the world has, and will be changed by this. And it’s time to imagine a new one. That imagining can only come from a subtle sea change within ourselves. And in the gentlest of ways, that’s what the seven artist lessons in this book teach you create – a sea change, a path back into your own authenticity.

The great thing about putting out any kind of creative work is that you never know where it will end up, or who it might help. So I’m sending this out now, to do whatever good it can. It’s the smallest of gestures, but each of us now has to do whatever we’re good at, in order to help others.

Take care everyone! Stay safe. Stay well.

And my love to you.

Sheila Chandra