Coast of Maine, Fall 2022
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have”
-Maya Angelou
2023 has been ushered in more quietly than usual. In general, we seem to be gingerly easing ourselves into the New Year, without the baggage of unrealistic resolutions or lofty plans. On the flip side, I am hearing a lot about adopting “New Years habits” instead of resolutions. Which probably isn’t new, but this year it seems to be everywhere. I like this. The idea of adopting habits feels much more realistic - and impactful - than making resolutions.
The race between Thanksgiving and the end of the 2022 was filled with lots and lots of activity. Unfortunately creativity wasn’t one of those activities. I definitely got caught in the trap of not “finding the time” to work on creative projects, and somehow completely fell out of the habit. It just happened.
As a result, it’s taking a while to get out of first gear this month as I try to get back in the habit of doing something creative every day, or at least as many days as possible.
If you can relate to any of this, I hope you’ll join me in taking baby steps to get back into the habit of whatever your creative practice is. Starting small is key. I find that by committing as little as 5 minutes a day, I’m often pulled in, find a sense of flow, and usually end up spending much more than 5 minutes on whatever project I’m working on.
But if not, 5 minutes is better than 0 minutes. And I’ll try again tomorrow. And tomorrow. And tomorrow.