Give Yourself 15 Minutes

Hello! Meet the war elephant of the Summer of 2008.  He took up a lot of my time and a lot of my living space. This was a venture into papier mache that I followed with no actual plan and was surprised as his face began to emerge from the wads of newspapers and crumbled paper bags.  

This guy may have been the an omen to my final commitment to jumping into creating this year.  No more waiting until (fill in the blank).  

I'm sure this post will meet the eyes of someone feeling stuck, discouraged, overwhelmed by a whirling collection of responsibilities and obligation.  If this is you and you are here, think of our meeting as a sign, a message waiting for you: you have the time, don't wait any longer.  Your perception of time can be adjusted.  You can spend 15 minutes a day writing, sketching, coloring, knitting- YOU pick!  You don't have to complete it.  It doesn't have to be perfect.  That's not the point.  The point is to gift yourself a very small portion of time regularly to add quality back into your life.  I've only been doing this for about 2 weeks and the effects have been wonderful.  Please do this for yourself.  

This may be a little woo woo, but whatevas.  I believe in signs, in things happening for a reason, paths cross for a purpose.  I felt unfocused and well, blue.  Slowly it became obvious it was my doing- I had neglected and set aside, my need to make stuff.  Plain and simple.  My head was in the past or speeding ahead into the future.  A lot of worry about everything that wasn’t in the now.  By about October, I knew I needed to change.  More importantly, I wanted it. 

Stopped obsessing about the news.  Back then, it was about the economy.  I let it grab my ear and whisper to me that all was lost.  I let it grab my heart and fill it full of fear.  Then reason stepped in.  It reminded me that this will pass, it’s just part of a cycle.  I cannot help people in foreclosure, but I can donate to food banks, schools, shelters.  No money? No problem- I donated time to help with Habitat for Humanity. Used coupons and sales to buy pasta and canned goods.  Went through my closet to donate gently worn clothes.  Realized fully how giving even a little is still giving.  Somewhere out there, parents find comfort in knowing their child went to sleep with a full belly. I can choose to worry about people losing their jobs or their homes or I can choose to focus my energy on helping. Only one of the two will have a positive outcome.

So…I literally said out loud, “Enough! Just go forward!”  and made a plan- 15-30 minutes a day to invest in my creative side.  Maybe some knitting, maybe reading through a back issue of a craft magazine and jotting techniques and ideas in my notebook.  Doesn’t matter as long as it’s related to creating. Can’t say where it will take me, but a voice tells me I’ve finally found my path again and it’s a very good thing.  That this will help me help my loved ones, my community.  I feel like I’m waking up when I didn’t even realize I was asleep.

Weirdly wonderful is how, during this time, I’ve found blogs and podcasts that all seemed geared towards this path. When you open yourself to positive change, things begin to filter in.  If you’ve read this far in the blog, then you probably are looking a for a shift in the wind.  Think of how everything starts to change when wetlands are created- little by little, life is drawn to it and the area begins to grow and thrive.  Give yourself 15 minutes to stop and enjoy the now. Go play, go create! Really, you deserve it.