I may be up to my neck in cardboard boxes… but I am at least being periodically dragged out of the mire and thrust into the light of day.
A few weeks ago, dinner down on the river front offered the unexpected treat of watching the Mystic Whaler practice tacking up and down the river- right in front of us!
Next up was a gorgeous drive over the mountain into Ellenville…
…to see “Almost Maine“, written and directed by John Cariani, at the Shadowland Theatre. It was lovely, touching, and hysterically funny.
I was also able to see the Hudson Valley Renegades beat the Brooklyn Cyclones 3-2 in what turned out to be an exciting nail biter toward the end. Thankfully, the rain held off long enough to make it a perfect night at the ballpark.
Capping off all of this frivolity was drinks and dinner last night with a few dear, dear friends from work.
All in all, a blessed several weeks.
Since our life is in such flux (read: chaos) for the next few months -and because I don’t want to lose focus on the work ahead of me with the Visioning Project- I’ve dragged out my copy of The Creativity Book: A Year’s Worth of Inspiration and Guidance
again. I don’t think I made it past page 3 when I first bought it, but this might be just the thing to use as a small bit of focus… a small habit to start back up… something I can have with me regardless of location/status.
One of the first exercises is to identify five obstacles which are preventing the realization of my “creative potential”. *Cough cough*
So here it goes–
- My creativity habits: I have trouble maintaining a regularly scheduled, dedicated time for doing something, anything, whether I’ve had a stroke of brilliance or not. I need to better identify what should be done – and HOW to begin – even if I don’t feel like doing anything.
- My extreme distaste for all things schmooze, sell, and socialize: I stink at small talk. I hate making First Contact in any situation. Most importantly, I don’t think I really know how to discuss what I do and what it means to me/feels like to me. Everything starts to sound like some fru-fru art snob talking out their nose. You know: stuck-up nonsense (see above with the coughing).
- Energy: this sort of relates to the first obstacle. Taking better care of myself physically would give me more energy, which would allow me to better care for myself intellectually and emotionally. AND would get more of those creative juices flowing. My creative time is part of my self-care.
- Getting it just right: sometimes I get stuck trying to bring what I see in my head to fruition in my hands. Usually, getting stuck means putting it away- which is okay sometimes – but I need to get in the habit of moving onto some other method, approach, testing, perspective, material… When you dream of a person but the face is completely blurred out? Some of the projects in my head are like that- even the Valley of Fire piece I’m working on for the Visioning. The center of it is still extremely fuzzy. And it may or may not put me at a disadvantage that I seem to have my heart set on what I can see clearly in the shapes and structure. I guess I just need to learn to love the Follow-Up plan of making lots of smaller “idea development” pieces.
- Constructive Criticism: Lastly, I think I need more basic experience – and guidance – in both accepting and applying constructive criticism.
