I’ve been feeling a bit stingy lately—a bit tired—a bit like I want to crawl into a hole and not come out for a while. Though it’s been a rather mild winter so far where I live in Northern Virginia, the grey skies, the rain, the bare trees, the bleakness of this time of year have definitely taking a toll on me. And though the days are starting to get longer, and spring feels not too far away, I’ve been feeling a bit disconnected from myself, my art, and my friends. Part of it is the weather, but part of it is the low level busyness that I find myself in—the feeling that I need to be constantly busy and constantly moving. It’s times like these that I have to remind myself that creativity like many things has it’s seasons, and there is a natural ebb and flow.
I’ve come to realize that January and February tend to be busy months for me. As the manager and instructor at a local art center, it seems like every weekend there is another workshop or party to teach as folks look for indoor activities to sustain them until the weather gets better. Then there’s my teaching gig, which I’m loving, but it takes up two or three days a week. And then there are the projects that I impose on myself like writing this weekly newsletter, trying to create some content for YouTube, and even working on a book about creativity. Throw in there a personal life, and it’s just so much to do. Of course there’s still much more that I want to do, but I simply don’t have the time or the energy to do them.