6.24.2007

Balance

I'm trying to master a new trick. I'm sure there are many of you out there that have to balance your art with family, work... well, life in general. I've never really tried to fit my art into everything else. I'm either all or none. Typically, I have worked full time or gone to school and let my personal work stay on the back burner; something to fiddle with on long holidays. That or I am out of school and letting the one who loves me pay the bills while I try to focus solely on my work. Neither of those choices is satisfactory to me really. I don't like letting someone else support me and I don't like ignoring that very important part of me.

I just took a full time job and decided this time to pay attention to all my needs. I need to feel independent financially but my creativity needs to be addressed. Most of you will know how hard it is to make time for yourself and your art when there is laundry piling up, dinner to be fixed and the exhaustion of just doing your job for eight hours a day to deal with.

My compromise is to work during the week and just focus on my home and my job. The weekends are for me. Seems obvious to me now but for some reason it was the hardest decision to come to. I still find myself catching up on housework on Saturday and eyeballing the clay on weeknights when I should be in bed, but it is getting better. Anticipating my time in my studio gives me something to look forward to and I am excited to be in there.

Maybe it seems silly to just be figuring this stuff out but you can only learn what you are ready to learn.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Best of luck with your new endeavors. You might also try to keep a small notebook with you at all times so you can jot down your inspirational ideas that come to you during the week so you can work on them on the weekend :)

Jen said...

Good idea.