On making time for your creative practice

An exploration of time through art

In the midst of the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, with seemingly never-ending to-do lists and responsibilities that sometimes make us wish we could run away into the woods and live alone in a cottage by a stream, how do we make time for our creative practice?

Last month,

Sarah Teresa Cook

, who writes For the Birds asked me “How do we make loving time for our creativity in this modern, demanding world?” and I’ve been thinking about her question ever since. I started writing something about time and the four thousand weeks we have on this beautiful blue planet; about the cult of productivity and the need for leisure; but my thoughts were a bit tangled, the kernel of what I wanted to say remained obscure.

So I did what I do best — I turned to my art journal, to paint my thoughts, tease them out, and see if I could make sense of them that way.

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I start by writing down a few lines by Mary Oliver that have been circling around in my mind since weeks:

The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.

MARY OLIVER

As I write the words down in my art journal, I think of the lusciousness of time, especially creative time, but also any time that feels generative and life giving…

…I think about the gentleness of leisure time…

of the frenetic energy of work and responsibilities, and the way we burden ourselves with the need to be productive every minute of every day.

I think of time, and how it sometimes seems to fly…

and how it sometimes seems to meander.

I think of all the pockets of time when I step up to the page for a few minutes…

and all the times when those few minutes turn into hours, as I enter the flow state…

At such times, nothing else matters. I don’t care about the bills that need to be paid or the washing that needs to be brought in; about the ketchup that is finishing or the flowers that need to be sent. Time slows down, becomes slow like treacle, stretches and warps and melts, and when I look up, evening has turned into night and I suddenly realize that my neck is hurting and my fingers are stiff and my stomach is growling, but I was aware of none of this while I was touched with the grace of flow.

I think that is how we make time for our creativity. By fitting it in, in whatever pockets of time we have. By allowing ourselves to sometimes be consumed by our creativity. By knowing that when we are caught in the throes of inspiration, of flow, nothing else can matter; everything and everyone else can wait. And that is okay, it has to be okay. Life will go on, even if we forget to stock up on ketchup or send out those flowers on time. Like the ever-wise Mary Oliver said:

My responsibility is not to the ordinary, or the timely. It does not include mustard, or teeth. It does not extend to the lost button, or the beans in the pot. My loyalty is to the inner vision, whenever and howsoever it may arrive. If I have a meeting with you at three o’clock, rejoice if I am late. Rejoice even more if I do not arrive at all.

MARY OLIVER, UPSTREAM

And while we may not be able to build our lives around our creative practice, because we have bills that need to be paid and jobs that we need to get to, we can create pockets during our days, weeks, months, and years when we can put our creativity at the forefront — for a few hours, a day, or a weekend.

Let’s chat!

I love chatting with you in the comments or via e-mail. Here are a few questions to help us get the conversation rolling, and see if we can learn from and help one another make time for our creativity.

• How do you make time for your creativity? Share your tips and strategies!

• What do you struggle with when it comes to showing up for your craft?

• What is the single biggest factor that prevents you from showing up for your art?

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