As a multi-hyphenate creative within a tiny team, juggling multiple projects at various stages of production, my To-Do lists can quickly become overwhelming. The daily pressure, the demands of film after film needing my attention, can send me into a pit of self-pity, anxiety, and procrastination.

I fell into that pit this month. Checking emails first thing in the morning, last thing at night, stressing if things were not going to plan or tasks were not completed as quickly as I wanted, led to going to sleep with a racing heart, a self-induced state of constant pressure.

But with the support of meditation, yoga, and Ivan constantly reminding me to slow down and switch off, I was able to work through the pressure before it crushed me.

It's a difficult time right now. I don't have to tell you that, you are going through it, as am I. Everyone around the world is suffering, some worse than others due to the situation they were in even before this COVID-19 virus started to change everything that most of us took for granted on a daily basis – family, the environment, work, our mental health, spirituality, our finances and the arts.

The physiological human response when a pandemic of this capacity strikes, or any situation really that a human (or an animal) feels is out of their control, or when a threat is suddenly present, is to go into 'fight or flight mode'. In response to acute stress, the body's sympathetic nervous system is activated due to the sudden release of hormones, boosting alertness and heart rate and sending extra blood to the muscles, prepping the body to respond and to survive. I don't know about you, but as a writer and a film director, I find human behaviour fascinating and the human condition to be so complex and full of possibilities.

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