march catches me off guard every year. 4 out of the 5 of us have birthdays. i start coaching my middle school track team again. our coaching business takes off. we start planning fun things to do for the summer. the team my husband coaches prepares for nationals. allergies attack us in the middle of the night. i realize that my kids don’t have any summer clothes that fit. i start craving fruit something fierce. we all want to spend tons of time outside.
so, i’m trying to carve out a few minutes here and a few minutes there to write, to take photos, to create art. i have to constantly remind myself that tiny portions of time can be put together to make something great. i don’t have to finish that repeat pattern in one sitting. i don’t have to finish a huge blog post all at once. it’s okay if i only put one layer on my masterpiece.
tell me, what’s the first thing you do when you find yourself with a tiny chunk of time? don’t you dare say “fold laundry” or “do the dishes”.
I find that lately I take little free moments to write in my journal. Like my actual paper one with a real pen! Since the weather’s been getting nice, I’ll even go outside and sit in the grass while I write. The journaling is really helping to keep me focused on my overall goals, even if I don’t have a chance to work on them every single day.
March was unexpectedly busy for me as well, and April is proving to be about the same! I read somewhere about an artist who carves out 10 minutes a day to draw/doodle/sketch, and that’s one of the things that I want to start doing. Seems like a realistic goal, don’t you think??
i’m definitely thinking of getting back to a real paper and pen drawing time outside while my kids play. the wacom and laptop on a bench just doesn’t work – haha! maybe i can get in my 10 minutes of sketching every day while they play. i think we just solved all of the world’s problems! thank you anika!
you’re welcome! it was a total revelation when I heard the 10 minute idea. I literally stopped in my tracks and thought, “hey. i can do that!” If you do that everyday in a week that’s over an hour of creative time! It adds up!