In New England, we embrace the British aphorism "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb." While this saying generally refers to the weather, I'm hoping it will also apply to recent psycho-social dynamics. March has been a challenging month. Several disruptions and unpleasant surprises on the domestic front (including my husband's employment status, issues with aging parents, a pair of legal suits, and the broken fingers of my youngest child) threatened to derail my daily writing practice and client work windows all "routine" evaporated. This photo of my cat Sasha -- looking rather like a feline zombie -- is an apt illustration of my mood on several occasions in recent weeks.
But I managed to hang on, and am riding a 107-day streak of writing at least 500 words of fiction daily. They aren't all good words, but that's not the point. They're words. I've resigned myself to the editorial truth: 90% of what I write will need to be tossed. But I need to write those "bad" words in order to get to the "good" ones. That's how it is.
Meanwhile my daily journal (Morning Pages &
intention journaling) has slipped. My morning meditation practice has also been spottier than I'd like. But I realize that my best course of action right now is to define my bare minimum, and hold onto that baseline no matter what. My bare minimum includes the daily word quota, three yoga sessions per week, and an attempt to eat healthfully (when stressed, I tend to medicate with caffeine, carbs, and chocolate -- which ultimately only make things worse). I've also reminded myself about the importance of
practicing gratitude. I'm grateful for my husband, moments of delight with my children, and dear friends who are always ready to share a burden and lighten the load with laughter and good advice. I'm also grateful for Instagram, Words With Friends, and my weekday mornings with tea and the
New York Times (print edition).
Another piece of my baseline is tending to Studio Mothers, which is truly a pleasure. This month we had two popular new content pieces:
10 Ways to Make the Most of 10 Minutes and a guest post from Molly Tinsley:
Honoring Your Creativity, an interesting exploration of creative process. If, like me, you've been wrestling with unexpected challenges of late, both of these posts are particularly useful.
Also this month, we had a shout-out at Psych Central in Margarita Tartovsky's
8 Creative Ways to Practice Self-Care. These strategies are valuable for all creatives, whether or not you're on top of your game.
And because laughter is often the best medicine, I highly recommend BuzzFeed's
The 30 Most Hilarious Autocorrect Struggles Ever. This post is not appropriate for children or the workplace, but if you and I have a similar sense of humor, you will laugh your head off as you scroll through these gems. And that might just make you feel like March's lion is indeed on his way out, making room for daffodils, forsythia, and a bit more creative bandwidth.
Warmly,
