Within one week I was to take years of course development and put them online. On top of this I started homeschooling my children, I continued to try to get illustration work, and my books published, received more rejections and I, with so many others, are doing our best to navigate a world pandemic.

That can all be rather overwhelming.

I have many things I do to stay calm in situations like this. I pray a lot. I am slowing down and spending more time with my family. I try to help others by reaching out to others to lift them up.

I also make time to work on personal projects. One of the benefits of working on personal projects is they are stress relieving. There is no purpose for these illustrations, other than to have fun and explore the challenge of fitting things into a square. When I finish each one I just feel happy.

Releasing stress and finding joy is just one of the benefits of working on personal projects regularly.