Years ago, I made the decision to deliberately and intentionally stay connected to my creativity – no matter what was happening in my life. I made it my dream, my goal, to keep this relationship going on a consistent basis.
It’s true there are ebbs and flows with creative projects and the creative process in general. But even so, I believe it’s possible to stay connected with creativity. And I’ve been determined to do it… because creativity is vital to my mental and emotional well-being.
Writing, especially writing fiction, is the creative outlet with the longest pull on me. I started writing little stories with thick markers as soon as I could write sentences and put them together.
I don’t write every day, though.
For me to write fiction, I need a certain amount of feeling settled inside, and there are days the anxiety I experience (not anxiety about writing, but the daily anxiety I deal with) doesn’t calm down enough. That’s especially been the case over the past several years. And although I’m now writing more often and more consistently again, it’s not an each-and-every-day occurrence.
But there is a certain creative outlet I do on a daily basis. Whether I write or do any other creative activity on any given day, what I do each day, without fail, is paint.
Every single day.
It doesn’t have to be for a lengthy amount of time. It doesn’t need to turn into anything. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks about what I paint or how I do it.
All it requires is for me to pick up a paintbrush and move paint on canvas or paper.
That’s all.
But that’s so much.
There are days when I paint for less than five minutes. And that’s okay. There are times I paint a few hearts or circles or squares in the morning, and then paint a few more in the afternoon. That’s fine too. Sometimes I fill an entire page with paint, at other times one page represents a week’s worth of painting a small bit every day, and at other times I’ll spend weeks or more painting on a single canvas. All of that is also satisfying and good, as far as I’m concerned.
For me, it’s about the doing of it – what I call paint play – every day. Because it calms me, it helps ground me, and it brings me joy.
What creative activity does that for you? (And don’t say you’re not creative, because you are!)
Is it painting, sketching, drawing, writing, sewing, quilting, photography, pottery, cooking, calligraphy, knitting, playing an instrument? The list of possibilities is huge. Find the one (or ones) that bring you joy.
Even if you rotate through a variety of creative activities instead of sticking to just one, and even if it’s only for a few minutes when you do it, make time to connect with your creativity every day.
It really does make a difference.
Ginger Simpson White 