Conversation with Charley Peters
Art Writer and Artist
Do you have any advice for our members regarding maintaining work and productivity while working from home?
Despite the many challenges of lockdown I’ve found it to be a very creative and productive time. It helped me a lot to realise that it was pointless trying to carry on as normal – things aren’t the same at all as they have been. However, where the world is now different and strange that isn’t always a bad thing, within change is a lot of freedom if we can relieve the pressure of expecting ourselves to perform in the ‘usual’ way and use this time to reset and redefine our goals.
So, my best advice would be:
Be kind to yourself – things are very weird right now and it’s ok to feel lots of different things all at once.
This situation is something new. There is no precedent to know how to do things ‘properly’ so as long as you are doing something and it feels ok then that’s the right thing to do.
You can’t fix this so do the best that you can every day.
Enjoy being able to reflect; there are things that we all do because we get used to doing them, but maybe we could do other things instead and get more interesting results.
The internet is a great tool, use it to stay connected, tell people what you are doing, support each other and catch up for drinks and chat on Zoom when you can. It really does help.
Are there any inspiring quotes that have resonated with you at this time?
I often return to this quote from Sydney Smith,
“A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves obscure men whose timidity prevented them from making a first effort.”
I think it’s easy in difficult times to resort to the comfort of what we know best, to stay within the familiar and not take risks. But this quote from Smith always reminds me that even in the most unusual circumstances, we owe it to ourselves to be brave and trust in our own unique abilities to do great things in the world. If things aren’t working for us, we can change them, and if other people’s rules don’t work for us, we can disregard them and make up our own. Always do ‘you’.
Do you think there will be changes from this period (working from home/changes in childcare) that you will continue with after lockdown ends?
One important thing that lockdown has given me is the opportunity to slow down. I’m a single parent and this time has taken the pressure off me needing to be in more than one place at once, and generally rushing my way through the week. It’s helped me to see that I can be in control of my life, career and happiness and much to my surprise, for now at least, I’ve found ways to make it all work. Bringing my work and home life closer together has been very positive for me. I’ve loved my daughter being at home all day, and we’ve been able to talk much more about what we are both working on and care about. We have learned a lot from each other – she has shown me how to deal with the technologies that usually infuriate me, and in return I’ve talked to her about how to be a badass woman. I think we’ll continue to find time to share more about our respective worlds and I’ll definitely do more work from home now that I’ve found a way to be productive without just being distracted by the contents of the fridge. Strange though it has been, I will be a bit sad when lockdown is over.