Round 2, Day 1





I started my new challenge yesterday. Only a few minutes into the first painting, I was already having second thoughts and felt my inspiration deflate. Due to the more "relaxed" rules of this bout, I questioned if it was silly to label and announce it at all. There was a reason I decided to approach this one differently.



Day 26/30

It has only been a month since the end of the original 30 day challenge, and I have done a couple small paintings in between there - but they all took place on the same day. Basically, in one month, I ended up with one day of actually painting. I have done a few other small things in between - doodles and ideas. I've been holding myself back, however, since I have loose ends to finish up from last year's challenge and the original 30 day painting challenge. While I thought it was necessary to refrain from new creative projects until those were officially complete so I could remain focused and productive, the opposite has been happening.

 



The "wrap up" process has felt like slow motion, some of it relies on other people, the weather, technology - all of these outside sources that I can't always control. These pieces are also not "creative"...I crave creativity on a daily basis, and am essential starving myself of having that. Physically/mentally/emotionally, I can already feel the draining effects. I may begin a day full of motivation for progress, but if the outside factors don't "cooperate" with my plan, it is easy to become frustrated and feel stuck, which can domino and before you know it, it feels like a wasted day. 



Day 30/30

During my original 30 day painting project, one of the coolest things was that no matter what the day held, I was going to have a creation out of it - that feels like a day that was worthwhile, productive, important. And what I'm finding just one day into this project, is allowing myself to create again oddly enough helped me be more productive with the other items on my to-do list. Not only did I do my painting yesterday, but I also did a second one! In addition, I restarted my daily morning meditations, had a great workout, retouched a ton of photos, returned all sorts of messages, wrote a blog post, ate super healthy, etc.

I think it is common for us to put what we really want to do on hold due to all sorts of other obligations. But each day we withhold our true desire, we drain ourselves. This can eventually be felt mentally, emotionally, and physically. Our other "obligations" can even end up suffering - we may not be doing as good of a job as we really could, we start letting things slip, we start resenting these things... sometimes we just drop the ball on them completely.

 

Day 1, Round 2 ... 2 out of 30 paintings complete

I am realizing I still struggle to treat creativity as a priority, I am still treating it as a moveable piece that can be pushed around or out by anything and everything that pops up. While I believe it is good to have flexibility, as we never know what may be thrown our way, that isn't what is happening.

 

While I am not terribly pleased with my first two paintings, what I'm rambling about here was important for me to hear and it is obvious I still need reminders that it is ok to do what I love.

 

Now on to day 2...