This fall we discovered a water leak at our home. It went unnoticed until our latest water bill arrived. It suddenly became an emergency to find it and fix it. The payment stung worse because it was wasted water. That got me thinking. How much of my time gets wasted while I’m not paying attention?
I have to admit, I’d never made a real practice of New Years resolutions before 2017. But the new political climate rocked my world and I needed a plan to stay my creative course. So, I set two challenges for myself. One, to #SayYes to opportunites that would take me out of my comfort zone and the second (after a thorough cleaning of my studio) was to #UseWhatYouGot in materials I already owned. Both challenges were a great success. I’ve made and saved money through 2017. What did I lose? Some of my creative time. I knew concentrating art making and writing into fewer days would take discipline, but that’s my middle name.
And I did create a lot of art this year. I experimented with “new” materials. I wrote new stories. But that dark cloud of politics darkened my mood and to “relieve” my anxiety, I reached for Twitter and Facebook to commiserate with friends and strangers. Looking for someone to fix the problem. But alas, there was no expert to call. So, monitoring the situation gave me a sense of control. Focusing on staying informed took/stole/wasted more and more of my preciouse time. Moments of meditiation or daydreaming had been given over to reading snarky or shocking remarks and revelations on social media. Regurgitated messaging that left me feeling ill. Even the puppy videos weren’t helping.
I gave away that time but got nothing back but a stomach ache. So, this year this artist is #ReclaimingMyTime. I’ll continue my frugal #UseWhatYouGot and my comfort zone busting #SayYes. The simple plan is, when reaching for my phone to "stay informed" of anything political, I must have posted, tweeted or shared something about creativity in any form. I must have written or drawn or painted something, anything. Making conscious decisions with time has got to stop this leaking!
Join me, let's go create something. >’y’<
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