Hi Gang,
Hope you have all had a good week. I'm really looking forward to having two days off in a row. Now that we are closing on Sundays, and I don't have a class that day, I'll have two days off - together - to do whatever I want!
But as I sit here I'm reminded of all the things I need/want to get done. There's that new quilt (the contest quilt) that needs finishing. Another quilt that I promised to make for my advanced design class that I need to finish before next Tuesday. Samples to make for my new advanced design class that starts the week after that. Book proposals to write. A new pattern to write (the quilt top has been finished for almost a year!) Taxes to get organized. New Block of the Month's to design and make. The store needs reorganizing. The house needs cleaning. The kids need some "mom" time. And, there's a holiday and a new husband stuck in there too!
How do we fit in time for our creative selves in our busy lives?
I decided many years ago that I was going to lead a creative life style. I wasn't exactly sure what that meant but I knew that changes - major changes - were needed in my ways of thinking. I was going through a divorce and dealing with a difficult teenager and trying to create a career out of a hobby. I knew that it was a "make it or break it" time for me. So, I began to make CREATIVITY a part of my daily life. To find it, acknowledge it, discover it. No - that doesn't mean that I started spending a large part of every day working in my studio, but it does mean a great shift in both my priorities and attention.
Today, my life is just as chaotic as it was six years ago, but now I have a clearer purpose. I find time each and every day for some type of creative endeavor - even if it's just looking through old issues of Art Quilter magazine or an art book while I'm riding my stationary bike. My mind becomes engaged and the possibilities start to soar. I don't know if there will ever be a time in my life when I will have the opportunity to spend 8 hours a day creating in my studio. I am a self supporting woman and though I would love to be able to claim that I'm supporting myself by selling my art - I can't. I can however, proudly claim that I'm supporting myself through my art. Between partnering in the store with Tom, publishing, teaching, lecturing and selling the occasional piece of my work, I get to live a life of my own making, on my own terms, doing what I love to do most - being creative!
I hope you all get the opportunity to follow your bliss,
Till next time,
Heather
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