Back to the Vision Board and Journalling

It’s so easy to get off track. Exuberance and curiosity are both friend and foe. Not as in serious enemy. But in the way that one’s best qualities can sometimes work against them, too.

Remember the concept of the ice cream dish? No more than four flavors at a time? Well, I’ve committed the ultimate error: add two but take away none. Uh-oh. Overflow. Translation: calendar bottleneck. Overload. Short-circuit. And finally, utter paralysis. Time to regroup. Adjust. Rebalance.

I’m very familiar with this cycle. Been at the same place on the map more times than I can remember.

My good friend, who just so happens to be a creativity coach, too, has advised me to put pen to paper and w-r-i-t-e about each of the two creative pursuits vying for top billing right now. Go back to my vision. Write about it. Make a new one, if need be. Write about it to narrow down and isolate my interests. Talk about peeling the veritable onion!

There’s always the battle with perfectionism, which seems so boring now. My gremlin, who I named “Patty Perfect”, still resides on my shoulder. But she gets a whole lot less air time than she used to. I don’t even know if her Mary Janes are polished and shiny anymore!

And the final area that begs attention is time management. Nope, you cannot add two activities and remove none from the calendar! She advises to first remove one and then add in another. Hmm. Not the way I usually operate.

I felt calmer just reading her email full of advice. While driving home after taking myself out for some “farm therapy” — fresh eggs and the sound of the rooster cock-a-d00dle-dooing — I spent some time working through what I might do with a month-long residency spent at Jentel Arts. A month without the distraction and demands of everyday living. What would I do with that time? I don’t know, but I think I’m going to send in my application. … stay tuned!