Day 37 The art of self care

I know that the main self care challenge for me is about stepping off the crazy spinning wheel of productivity and caregiving. At least for a breath or two in the midst of it all.
There is another challenge here. Art has been my way of playing since l was a child. I continued making art through my adult life even as I worked as a designer and art director. I quit that work and made a go at making my personal art a career. Well that never really got to a viable income. Instead I slipped into a roll of supporting my husband's work through cooking and gardening. Both things that I have always done for pleasure. The problem is that as my frustration grew with the marketing of art I completely shut down and now make no art at all. Meanwhile gardening and cooking have become driven by production (the spinning wheel).
So how do I regain the pleasure, the play in it all?

 

Hi,

I guess I know what you mean. I was in the same situation for some time, could not create anymore, could not paint, knit, draw in pencil etc. just for my pure pleasure. And then I relaxed and did not care anymore about actually selling my art. Marketing for art is very difficult, I agree.

I think you have to stay in the "now" in order to be able to enjoy creating again (art, something yummy or working in the garden). Just be in the moment and do all these activities as hobbies. Without caring about the money, just let go of it and enjoy yourself. Moment by moment, in the now. Try it to see how it goes. It's not going to be easy in the beginning but I found this process to be like training a muscle, you train often and it gets easier in time. Eventually, you get used to doing it.

I don't even care about the results, I only care about the process of creating something nice or at least decent, usually lovely (in my opinion at least). I can't help it now, I have to create otherwise I feel like I'm not expressing myself. I'm an addict so to speak.

About the money, or the lack of it...I have a very simple and modest life now and I'm learning to be happy with less. Simplicity. I found that if I keep everything simple, I'm more content and can live decently on a much lower budget. We (me and my husband) are supporting each other completely and I have to admit that our relationship improved even more after me letting go of the frustrations that I had regarding this subject. It might sound strange but the fact that I have to live on a lower budget, actually increased my creativity.

Enjoying the moment completely was the solution and now I can create again.

Hope this helps a little.