Self Care in December: incubation
With the solstice only days away, we’re right in the middle of the darkest part of the year and also the busiest. It’s a combination that can easily lead to feeling over-stimulated and over-tired, the adrenaline of trying to get it all done matched with the lack of time we give ourselves to rest or go slowly. It’s obvious how this can affect us emotionally and physically, but how about creatively? In this blog I spend a lot of time wondering about the creative process, and how we can support our creative practices to become as full and expansive as possible. I have come to believe that December is in some ways a natural enemy to creativity, as it is a month that makes so many demands. It expects us to be dynamic and positive, giving so much energy out to others, while not really allowing time and space for us to maintain that energy. So be it. I can’t change December, it will always be this way. But I can change how I respond to these circumstances. So, instead of resisting and feeling annoyed with myself for feeling stretched and tired, I am going to go with it. I am not going to expect anything great from my creativity this month. Instead I am going to take care of it.
Revisiting ideas
It’s almost half way through November and the challenge of NaNoWriMo. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I’m using it mainly as a way to get into the habit of writing daily, and in a more focused way, rather than trying to get the first draft of a novel down (my writing is non-fiction anyway so that’s another deviation from the path…) And I should say that things are going pretty well. I’ve found time every day to write, even if that’s only to get a quick 500 words down in between other things. What is most heartening is to see the gradual accumulation of words, a bank of ideas that might develop into other things, later.
Anyway, it dawned on me that I have no way of categorising or indexing all this writing. Which isn’t such a problem for the daily free-writing (which is mostly just stream-of-consciousness stuff out of my head) but for the focused pieces, where I’m starting to draw out ideas I may want to work on later, well – I need a plan!