Touch All The Things!
Lately, I’ve felt like there are a million things that I want to create, not because I have to, but because I want to, I need to.
It’s like decades of creativity are finally flooding in and I just need to draw, conceptualize, and create. But there’s only so much time in any given day or week so I have to choose my tasks wisely. I’ve also learned a valuable lesson that I cannot always go 110% at one thing. When I do, other things suffer.
Therefore, my approach to conquering everything is to touch everything at least once per day!
I have a piece of notebook paper push-pinned to the wall beside my desk. The header reads “Touch all the things!”
Beneath it are the reminders to myself (just four of them) as to why I need to do these five things every day. And, every day, I take a look at those reasons the second I sit down at my desk. Those reasons are very private and personal so I don’t want to share them here, but the five things I have to touch every day aren’t so private!
School Work
Drawing
Chores
Marketing
Self-Care
I’m in school full-time while also working on my art full-time. I sell my art to pay bills and, thanks to so many people’s love and support, I’ve been able to do more and more of that as 2021 has progressed. I love learning. I love reading and growing professionally and personally. However, just opening the browser to view my school work can be anxiety-inducing. I fear what I might find, even though I know what’s there. So, having this gentle reminder to simply check-in and do a little work each day is helpful. It also helps me continue working toward my degree at no expense to my work and personal relationships.
You’d think that, as an artist, I draw every day. I don’t. There are some days that I simply cannot do it. Wednesday, oddly enough, is usually that day. It’s one of the reasons I don’t stream on Wednesdays. I know that, by the time the middle of the week rolls around, I’m just needing to focus on other things. The Wednesday break gives me the opportunity to clean, organize, and engage in more self-care so that I’m pumped and ready to go for Thursday and Friday. However, my goal is still to draw something every day, even on the days I can’t. So, on those days, I usually do a little graphic design or I do a really quick, horrible sketch. Regardless, feeling like I’ve taken a step forward rather than no step at all gives me continued momentum.
Chores go without saying, I suppose. I give myself 30 minutes before streams and 30 minutes after streams to do a little here and there. Otherwise, like everything else, I will focus only on the organizing and I will not want to stop. I’ve learned that does me little to no good. I get nothing out of focusing it down like that. So I simply don’t.
Marketing. My greatest hurdle. I hate “selling myself”. I loathe it. I hate that people might think that I’m only talking to them or sharing something with them to “promote” or “advertise” or “sell”. Honestly, I just like to share with people. I love that my art can make people smile. But, if people don’t know my art is there, then how can I share it with them? If they don’t know it’s there, then how can I continue producing more of it to share with them if I cannot pay my bills? So, marketing is essential and very challenging for me. Every post you see on my social media pages is heartfelt and full of genuine passion, even though I had to take a heavy dose of anxiety to post it.
Finally, self-care. The thing I’m either exceptional at doing or truly terrible at accomplishing. I never make time for self-care but after my recent trip to Universal Studios, I realized how desperately I needed it. It may seem silly to even have “self-care” on this list, especially when I’ve specifically listed that I need to “shower, eat, hydrate, and play”, but I’m the kind of person who will refuse to do any of those things until I think that I’ve done all I can on whatever it is I’m trying to do. So, I have to put it on the list so that, every day, I will do at least something to take care of myself, be it emotional or physical.
So, in the spirit of touching all the things, here I am, taking another step forward with a project. And it feels good.
I cooked today, I cleaned a little. I looked at my school work and still have some more to do. The marketing is done. So, now all that’s left is to do a little art!
