Every year I make a list of New Year’s Resolutions, and every year it looks pretty much like it did the year before. And the year before that. “Relax.” “Meditate.” “Don’t worry.” “Spend more time doing fun stuff with my husband.” Some years I do better than others, taking more time to do something besides work. But the thing is that I like to work–I come from a long line of people who believed strongly in hard work, so what choice did I ever have, really? Good thing I have a job I love, huh?
I do add in various resolutions about making more time for making stuff, mostly organizational things. You know: spend less time reading the New York Times’ news updates, spend less time ogling the eye candy on Pinterest. You know. I wondered what kinds of resolutions other people make about creativity and time and goals and stuff, so I asked on Facebook, and here’s what people had to say about their own creative resolutions for 2013.
The best place to start is at the beginning, as Amy plans to do: “Going to write down my goals for this next year and actually do some of them! Missed this step last year and didn’t accomplish anything.”
Sometimes that’s tough, as April admits. She wrote, “I haven’t created anything in my studio for over two years due to severe depression. Anything I have done has been on my couch. I am going into that beautiful pink room that I designed for myself (living in a house of men I had to have something pink!) and I am going to start again. I will force myself to start hoping it changes my routine to include time in my studio.”
Linda D. said, “Create more time for just for ME art. To play! Being a commercial artist – a job I love- takes up so much of my time and energy. I need to do my own art – as essential as food and water.” This is one of those things that so, so many working artists forget: in addition to the art you create as part of your work, you need to create art that has nothing to do with work. Making time for that has to be a priority, it really does. As Dawn says in her resolution to “finish my unfinished projects and work on artwork that is from and for me – for my personal artistic development. Focus on myself and learning my artistic style and voice.” LorriMarie adds, “Hmmmm….I guess I have daily resolutions…and that is to take time out every day to play…sometimes my play starts to look and feel like work so I have to stay vigilant about how my heart and spirit feels when I play….it is delicious and I can tell the difference…xoxo”
Linda E. finds it important enough to write it down on her calendar: “I am resolving to control my calendar. Every week I schedule in a day that says ‘stop doing’ and it’s a day for no work – just play or napping or pedicures. I sometimes forget. a lot. and I see that I need to respect the Stop. Maybe if I schedule it for 1/2 a day, I won’t panic so much about falling behind.”
You can start big, or you can start wherever you can, as Cathy says about her resolution “To do what I love daily or at least as often as I can!”
Come back on Monday to see the rest of our collection of resolutions for making 2013 a more joyfully creative year~~
For support in your new creative resolutions, try Marisa Anne’s new release, Creative Thursday.
Ricë is the author of Living the Creative Life, Creative Time and Space, and Destination Creativity. She also blogs at The Voodoo Cafe.
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