
These past two weeks were a creative retreat for me and it has been such an encouraging time!!
Michael was planning to return to Mozambique for almost two weeks and, since I wasn’t going along, I planned 13 days of creative FUN while he was away. BUT, the new COVID variant meant that countries were closing down and we didn’t feel comfortable sending him to Africa, not knowing if he was going to be able to get back home easily.
So, our plans changed.
I would love to say that we both smiled and said “it’s okay” but we were both SO disappointed and actually grieved on the day that the tickets were canceled.
On the morning that he was to head for the airport, we unpacked his carefully packed duffel and started making plans for how we were going to make the most of our time.
The first decision is that we would not have any meals that required more than 20 minutes of prep time…..PERIOD!!
Secondly, Michael was going to spend time thinking about the book that he was researching and also looking for new outlets for his amazing creative writing skills.
Thirdly, I was going to keep a schedule closer to my “alone-time” schedule….ie….no gym time, later nights, working in my studio at night rather than just watching TV.
And it worked!!!
The first morning I went out to walk and hit a podcast talking about efficiency versus effectiveness. That was all it took to start the ideas pouring into my mind. I kept stopping to send myself emails and finally realized that I wasn’t getting ANY aerobic exercise so started using SIRI to send them for me.
When I got home, I spent some time planning projects and “brain-dumping” all of my new ideas.
Then it was up to the studio!!
Over the next weeks, I will show the projects that I accomplished during this time, and over the next year, you will see some of the ideas that I now have in mind for my website and for the blog.
Yesterday it ended…..
I started back to working in my office and doing all of the normal things that we do in our household.
And that is okay!!
But, I wonder…..
Did I really need to wait until I had a 13-day period free before I could feel creative?
What would happen if I planned a 5-day creative retreat every few months?
Or maybe just a 2-day weekend retreat every two months?
I have a lot of flexibility in my work schedule and maybe I could organize those times with little or no CPA work and LOTS and LOTS of creative time.
Maybe this has more to do with mindset than it does with time….
I really felt empowered during these 13 days. But what was different????
It was simply the mindset that I WAS creative and that I HAD TIME to be creative.
So, the question is simple…..
What are we waiting for??
