My Anxiety is at an All-Time High *and* I'm Supposed to Be Productive?

Alright y'all... I'm a full month into my quarantine life and it's still pretty tough. As I mentioned last week, I've been dealing with more anxiety than ever before. I'm sure many of you have, too. Just today, right before writing this, I swear these were the thoughts in my head:

• Did I feed Pixel yet today?
• I wonder how much of the COVID-19 I am gaining right now. No, I'm not going to get on the scale. Not gonna do it.
• Are my kids screaming in the other room? Should I go help them... or hide and let them help themselves?
• Amanda's husband, Nick, is still on a ventilator. No, no, no. This is not real. He cannot die.
• Shoot. What is for dinner tonight?
• Oh man. I need to write the B+C email, but I feel SO behind!
• Honestly, WHY ARE THEY STILL SCREAMING!?
• Ahhhh I JUST vacuumed the floors and somehow there are crumbs everywhere again. #toddlers
• What is going to happen to all of these small businesses? Where are the loans they promised!?
• Don't look at the news. Don't look at the news. (I looked at the news.)
• Dave and I need a date night. For REAL.
• Will I ever get a break?
• Will life ever be the same?

As all of this was going on inside my brain, I took a deep breath and paused. Each one of these thoughts was a burst of anxiety. I was a freaking anxiety firecracker, shooting flares left and right, over and over. Somehow, naming it something funny made me feel better. How peaceful would it be if I could just pour some water on those fireworks for a few minutes?

The truth is, we're all pretty anxious right now. What's happening in the world has NEVER happened before. It's impacting our personal and professional lives in endless ways. So this week on Brit + Co, we're talking all about how to manage our productivity and anxiety, together at once.

But if there's one thing I know for sure, it's that creativity can truly turn your anxiety into calm. Actually, it was many of you who told me that! As you probably know, we offered our Brit + Co classes for free these past few weeks, and we've heard over and over how helpful they've been for mental health. So while we can't keep them free forever, we can make it easier to help you keep learning, making and creating. That's why, starting this week, Brit + Co classes are now just $10/month for the ENTIRE course catalog! This is the first phase of a new B+C membership that we're excited to roll out.

From amping up your business skills, to letting your creativity flow, we have you covered with over 110 courses. Once you join as a B+C member, you'll also get exclusive access to all of the new things we're launching next, including a private forum to chat with me about ALL THE THINGS.

Next up, we've got a brand new episode of Teach Me Something New this week with one of my biggest mentors, Adam Grant. I asked him to teach me how to — and if it's even *possible* to — be even more productive than ever before, especially during a time of max uncertainty.

Adam is an organizational psychologist. He says his job is literally to "make work suck less" which I think we all aspire to do. Beyond that, he's a Wharton professor, bestselling author, top podcaster and TED speaker. Trust me when I say there is no better teacher for this topic!

Listen in for all of his wisdom and advice on how to increase your productivity while managing anxiety. We may never nail it all perfectly, but these little tips may go a long way, especially if we're going to be in this new world for the long haul.

The world is tough, but we are tougher. I hope you'll try a class or two, or follow along with our anxiety-busting tips this week. Together, we can get smarter, calmer and more creative.