Dolphin With Rabies

Life on beautiful Cape Cod.

Thursday, March 13, 2003

Creativity

I've recently discovered that if I don't take my creative stuff seriously, no one will. I mean, I knew that, but I didn't. I always retreated into my, "oh, here's this little thing I do for fun" space, and had a lot of envy directed at the more talented folks who just seemed to "effortlessly" turn out work.

The spousal unit has always admired and valued my work, but for some reason, I couldn't admire it and value it for myself. Until recently. I'm now starting to see the possibilities of living a wonderful, integrated, creative life.

Going back to school triggered a lot of this. I've always had a lot of weird issues surrounding time management, and getting things done, and fretting about projects. I'm taking a class where I have to do work regularly, not necessarily every day, but pretty close. I have to go to class, even if I'm tired or cranky. I have to go to class because it counts for part of my grade, and anyway, I'd quickly fall behind if I didn't.

Usually I find that once I sit down and start doing my work, it's not as bad as I made it out in my own mind to be. And, I really think that attitude is spilling over into my creative stuff as well. I do a little bit, and a little bit, and a little bit...and whadya know, I'm done, and I have a pretty thing to admire and life is good.

I'm not going to sit and agonize if a project isn't going well, stick it on the coffee table and have it glare at me for weeks. No, it's either getting put on hold (and put away), it's getting dissassembled, or I'm going to take a break and try again in a short while.

It's not just school. The Flylady website has helped a lot too. Other organizational stuff has never helped me, but the emphasis on developing good habits and the personal coaching did.