…January is winding down and before the sun sets on the last day I better check in. While I aim to post once a week I didn’t get quite make it last weekend. My dentist visit on January 23rd seemed to go as expected, however, by last weekend I had not slept more than a couple of hours a night and the throbbing pain was at times unbearable. I toughed it out till Tuesday afternoon when I requested an emergency check up. This was accommodated and I am slowly returning to a more sane frame of mind. Once I catch up with sleep I won’t be stoppable. 😉

Back to the real reason for posting! I found this in my email feed today: “…An overflowing to-do list. A continuous stream of messages coming in. Endless options and choices to make. And a daily overdose of stimuli… It can be quite a challenge to keep an overview of everything that’s going on in your life, so how can you create a little more order?… “(Quote from Flow Magazine Subscription email)

Does this sound like your life? I know that this has often been the situation in mine, especially when I was juggling a busy teaching schedule, meeting exhibition deadlines and keeping “it” together at home. About three years ago I made a conscious change in my personal outlook and schedule. I won’t pretend that it was easy to switch gears, step back and evaluate what was not working well. It took small steps and even smaller changes. I joined the “declutter and simplify movement” and I finally feel I am in better control of my life. It doesn’t mean that every day is a breeze but I am able to step back and evaluate with a clearer mindset and because of that I no longer feel constantly overwhelmed.

I have always considered myself an organized individual. That only changed when I began to forget “no” and switched to “yes” to accommodate and please everyone who wanted something, be it a workshop, lecture, even just a walk or a quick date for coffee. I was subscribing to the motto “flexibility is key” and it didn’t suit me at all in the end!

We live and we learn and that is exactly what I did. For the past couple of years, I have stayed close to home. I have decluttered the house and studio. I have focused on healthy meals, creativity to feed my soul and things are slowly falling into place. I am very satisfied with my routine!

These days I am once again open to consider some teaching engagements. I follow up with invitations to teach, lecture and even judge. I am committed to not exhausting myself just to please everyone else. I am open and honest about it all. I provide guilds with options to make the final decision. No, I am not going to do several gigs in a row – that was a bad combination and led to burnout!

I have begun to accept requests for commissions again, and that was not something I have actively pursued for some time. I am currently preparing maquettes for an ecclesiastical hanging for a local church whose minister contacted me recently. It’s the perfect activity to make it through the extremely low temperatures we have been enjoying.

Hope your January was one of rest and creative pursuit to set the tone for the rest of 2019.

 

31 Jan This entry was published on January 31, 2019 at 12:21 pm. It’s filed under Art, Contemplative art practice, Creativity Update, Journaling, Networking, Refocusing Creativity, staying in touch and tagged Blog, blogging, changes, commission, helpful insights, Inspiration, just for fun, reflections, staying organized, steps to stay balanced, writing. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.