It is sunny and warm here, today.
I have projects to work on, but my body has decided it'd like to continue its vacation, and has lorded a wave of exhaustion over me.
And I want to fight the flow.
"I have videos to film and finish!" I say.
"But you haven't worked on your painting. Or blogged much. Or made a tangled mess in your journal!" my body responds. "Sit down and rest and do these things instead."
"But deadlines!" I sputter.
"You will reach them. You need to relax, darling. Take it easy. Stop pushing so hard."
I understand the wisdom in those words -- how can I not, if I was the one to speak them? -- yet want to push further, do more. Stay up late painting and spend hours on end creating. I want to be normal. Healthy and able to sleep only four hours a night so I have more time to create. I want to bring all my ideas into the world and do it now.
How can we do it, though? All of us, collectively. How do we carve out this time so we don't have to live in our heads anymore? Surround ourselves with the very things our minds have dreamed up?
We get up.
Stand, right now, and find your journal, canvas, beads, or threads. Hold them in your hands, slide your fingers over them. Close your eyes. Let the texture transport you. Imagine all you can create with them, all that's inside, bursting to get out. Take five minutes and show your supplies a little love! You can do that, can't you? Even in your cube at work, or just before dinner is finished, or between children running -- you can take five minutes and do something, anything.
The goal is not to finish, but to get started.
Because once you start something, the universe comes to help. It's like contributing to your retirement account -- you put in 5 minutes, and the universe will match that. And it just keeps growing and growing.
I recently decided I'm going to put $10 a month into a retirement account. Invest it. Let it go and grow. Why can't we, as grown-ups, see that our souls need the same type of care? All the money in the world won't satisfy you in the same way as a happy soul.
Invest 5 minutes today. And tomorrow. And soon, you'll notice you can do 10 minutes without the world falling on your head. Then 20. Then, who knows? The universe loves you and may add more -- you give it 5, it'll give 10. Give it 10, you'll get 20.
Small steps. You can do it.
I believe in you. Remember that, when you're creating. I believe in you and your talent and your creative soul. I give you the gift of validation -- what you're doing is not a waste of time, or silly, or ugly. It is a beautiful singing song that floats into the sky and makes birds smile.