I sit here to write this as my fairy vision of writing with a warm cup of tea next to my open sun-lit windows in my minimalist dining room as songs from the Passenger play in the distant background, are replaced with the reality of yes, I have a warm cup of tea beside me (always) yet it is only 5:30 am and as fall sets in, the sun does not peek out early anymore as only deep blackness pours in through the shut windows (shut only because it's chilly out now) and I am listening to a podcast in the background (which is a challenge all in itself while writing) yet this is really the only time of day I have to cram this all in.
As for minimalist? Well yes, as my dinning room looks like a page out of a garden catalog, my art room (where I am sitting) has turned into anything but.
I have frames stacked against the wall, and photos stacked that need attention to be bagged or framed. I've got unread books piled here and there and papers that have suddenly seemed to take on a life of their own. We've got some homeschooling curriculum here and there (that has't been touched) and many boxes packed (which I just loaded into my Jeep) that are going on a one-way trip to the local Goodwill. Yet it's not just me in this art room either. I have an extremely creative boy who loves to work with hot glue and cardboard. Clippings that turn into large life forms that the average person may never even dream cardboard could become. A boy who loves little and big things and has more pets then our local pet shop in here. It has seem to come as a room of more much-ness then the minimalist I strive to become.
And in this dark room, only lit by the glow of my computer at the moment, I look down in front of me and see the 100 KR that was missed in a tiny pocket of my wallet that I forgot to use on the Islands we visited only weeks back. So for now, I set it along side my computer, useless here back in the States. It now just sits here in front of me...calling me back. Yet it also sits here beside me calling me home. I was in heaven on our trip, which somehow now seems forever ago, yet I am also grateful to be home.
Back home to this spot where I write. Back to this spot that I see things I plan to tackle in the next month or so. Back home to my little boys creative projects and lonely books that long to be opened.
And I do sit in my dinning room and write on my laptop at times. Yet it can't be all the time and I am OK with that. Yet as for the things that seemed to grow over night around me, it will give me a goal. A goal to tackle. Because if you're like me at all, there is nothing better then that wonderful feeling of clearing the clutter. The clutter of life. Especially if you have children, you will clearly understand. Even if you don't bring more things in, they somehow get in and there are many of these small little things that I am almost certain they all come alive and party at night (and multiply) while we are all fast asleep.
Yet this somewhat chaos of real life also reminds me, as I hope it will you too, that you do not have to have everything in order to create. You just have to start, somewhere, anywhere. Pick a spot and start. Pick a time when the house is still and the children are still asleep (4:30/5:00 am works for me) or, pick a time mid-day when they are lost in their own wonderful world of play and just start. Pick a time when you have a few minutes to just be, no phones buzzing, or voices calling. Pick a time regardless of smudged glass doors, laundry that needs folding, or to-do lists that always seem to need doing. Pick a time and start, regardless of it all.
And there will be failures, and there will be success and there will be mess (yes the stuff with grow here and there) yet if the focus is always on fixing this or that or clearing this or that or waiting for these things or those to to get in order, time and stuff will definitely take over your window to create. And the window is small. It may seem like you have all the time in the world yet really the window is small...(yes these years fly by). So perhaps carve a window out for yourself, even if it is only 20 min or so a day, for your favorite things, weather it is to create or read that novel you longed to read or tend to your garden, if that is your means of creating. The rest will still be there (yes very rare it leaves on it's own) for you to tackle. Yet the time you wanted to put into what you love will easily be gone, a sure thing of the past.
Guess it's just a reminder that life will always try to get in the way, we just get to choose which way we want to take it. 🙂
Leave a Reply