Oh Abby. I hear you. My fun time generally involves selfishly going for a walk to get coffee in the morning, and tying sketch time to that - 30 or 45 minutes daily sitting doing nothing but watch the world go by, sipping and doodling. I kinda build natural creative time into something I’m addicted to doing religiously.
I say selfish, but really, I’ve found if I don’t do it daily, I never get anything down to paper at all. Ironically, I’m currently moving house and it’s a sort of compressed version of what you’ve described - get the unpacking sorted first, then return to the fun stuff once the jobs are done. And the result is I’ve totally dropped the ball on my illustration work in the past 4 or 5 weeks. Or more. Not a single post, not a single trip to a cafe, not a single mark in a sketchbook. If the truth be told it feels like a bit of a holiday for me - permission to take a rest from the stuff I love to do. Which just seems ridiculous. What have I become?!
Anyway, you are not alone in this battle Abby. I think how you’re feeling is actually the way it’s meant to feel. God that makes it sound so depressing doesn’t it!
Stephen thank you for taking the time to write such a lovely and thoughtful comment on my post. You are not alone either, I have no doubt there are so many more who feel the same way, and it's not selfish or depressing sounding if it's something you need that gives you that creative time. Don't worry if you feel like you've dropped the ball, moving house takes a lot of mental effort and logistics to sort. Often we need a break, even from the things we love, and you can find a new way to add that creative time into your routine and new area. I often take a few days, or even close to a week out when I have passed a big deadline or recently, I had multiple projects finish around the same time, and the lead up to that final deadline was intense.
I hope the move goes well, take your time with it all. When you feel ready to go out and explore, then you will just have to try some new coffee shops and places to watch the world go by - sounds rather nice :)
Oh wow, I identify with ALL of this!! Half an hour to answer an email? Yup!
Doing all the boring things first before I’m “allowed” to do anything I might enjoy? Yes indeed!
You are so right that it’s all about the energy, it’s easy to run out of it and struggle to refuel. But when the energy is flowing it feels brilliant, easy and FUN!
I am SO relieved to hear it's not just me! (especially with the email anxiety!) I have sat on this article/blog post whatever we call the things we publish on Substack for such a long time. The fear that no one would read it, or think I was being 'too sensitive' or 'complaining'. But to hear that it resonates with someone, I can't tell you how much that warms me.
It really is all about energy isn't it?! How much of it we have in any given day, and how we can preserve and reserve it for when we need it most. You're so right - when we have it, boy is it fun! (You will laugh that it took me nearly 10 minutes to write this reply to your lovely comment, I wanted to make sure I included everything I wanted to say, and then of course check and re-check it).
Oh Abby. I hear you. My fun time generally involves selfishly going for a walk to get coffee in the morning, and tying sketch time to that - 30 or 45 minutes daily sitting doing nothing but watch the world go by, sipping and doodling. I kinda build natural creative time into something I’m addicted to doing religiously.
I say selfish, but really, I’ve found if I don’t do it daily, I never get anything down to paper at all. Ironically, I’m currently moving house and it’s a sort of compressed version of what you’ve described - get the unpacking sorted first, then return to the fun stuff once the jobs are done. And the result is I’ve totally dropped the ball on my illustration work in the past 4 or 5 weeks. Or more. Not a single post, not a single trip to a cafe, not a single mark in a sketchbook. If the truth be told it feels like a bit of a holiday for me - permission to take a rest from the stuff I love to do. Which just seems ridiculous. What have I become?!
Anyway, you are not alone in this battle Abby. I think how you’re feeling is actually the way it’s meant to feel. God that makes it sound so depressing doesn’t it!
Stephen thank you for taking the time to write such a lovely and thoughtful comment on my post. You are not alone either, I have no doubt there are so many more who feel the same way, and it's not selfish or depressing sounding if it's something you need that gives you that creative time. Don't worry if you feel like you've dropped the ball, moving house takes a lot of mental effort and logistics to sort. Often we need a break, even from the things we love, and you can find a new way to add that creative time into your routine and new area. I often take a few days, or even close to a week out when I have passed a big deadline or recently, I had multiple projects finish around the same time, and the lead up to that final deadline was intense.
I hope the move goes well, take your time with it all. When you feel ready to go out and explore, then you will just have to try some new coffee shops and places to watch the world go by - sounds rather nice :)
Oh wow, I identify with ALL of this!! Half an hour to answer an email? Yup!
Doing all the boring things first before I’m “allowed” to do anything I might enjoy? Yes indeed!
You are so right that it’s all about the energy, it’s easy to run out of it and struggle to refuel. But when the energy is flowing it feels brilliant, easy and FUN!
I am SO relieved to hear it's not just me! (especially with the email anxiety!) I have sat on this article/blog post whatever we call the things we publish on Substack for such a long time. The fear that no one would read it, or think I was being 'too sensitive' or 'complaining'. But to hear that it resonates with someone, I can't tell you how much that warms me.
It really is all about energy isn't it?! How much of it we have in any given day, and how we can preserve and reserve it for when we need it most. You're so right - when we have it, boy is it fun! (You will laugh that it took me nearly 10 minutes to write this reply to your lovely comment, I wanted to make sure I included everything I wanted to say, and then of course check and re-check it).