This project started for me as a way to cope with the recession of 2009 and still continues to bring me joy over ten years later. There was so much negativity in the air with people losing their jobs or if you were freelance like me, losing lifelong clients that were my bread and butter. People were depressed and scared about what the future held. We were all treading lightly it seemed, waiting to see what would happen and we stayed in this waiting game for what has seemed like forever. My business has never bounced back and the rates I used to get are just not being offered anymore. The recession of 2009 has definitely changed the job landscape forever.
Always being a glass half full kind of person I decided then that I would do a personal project about the positive effects of the recession. I mean, I had time on my hands. So I set out to collect positive recession stories from everyone I could think of, even posting notes up at Starbucks. What happened next was incredible. It was like a momentum kicked in and stories started coming in left and right. I was encouraged to continue the up hill climb of trying to spread a little positivity.
Within the year I had interviewed and photographed 18 people, produced a gallery show, which was a huge success and self published a book. I also created a dedicated website and four of the stories where published in a magazine. Even after a couple years past, I would still get emails from people who came across my project online and they raved about the inspiration they got from reading these peoples stories. I couldn’t stop and the stories didn’t stop either. Since 2009 I’ve added handfuls of new stories of courageous people who live boldly and adapt when there is no other option.
We are in a similar situation of change and uncertainty with the worldwide shut down of businesses caused by Covid 19. People have had to adapt like never before. Some have been laid off and still struggling to find work. Some are adjusting to working from home and some never went back to a job they hated. We’ve all lost something or someone, our lives definitely altered forever by this time. It’s my hope that we don’t give up. We keep trying to see that silver lining, because I don’t know about you but there are three ways to deal with any problem, you can give up, you can give in or you can give it all you got.