“It is good to love many things, for therein lies strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done with love is well done.”- Vincent Van Gogh
I’m interested in a lot of things. Writing novels and essays and poems. Making art. My dog. My California native plant garden. The birds and other wildlife that visit my garden. Photography.
Any one of those could be a full-time job and sometimes I make myself crazy jumping from one thing to another. And sometimes I beat myself up for what I fear is a lack of focus on any one thing because I worry it will lead people to think that not specializing in any one area of my life means I’m not very good at any one thing. Of course that’s complicated by the fact that I am quick to shout out my shortcomings and less quick to announce things I do well.
In moving old blog posts over here to my new blog I’ve been rereading a lot of posts, seeing if they still hold up over time and if I should keep them around. I noticed a disturbing trend, there was a lot of guilt, a lot of beating myself up for what I did and didn’t do. If I stopped blogging for a while I reentered the blog world with a long list of explanations. If I didn’t finish a book project by my personal drop dead date I got out the old hair shirt and wore for weeks and weeks. I whined a lot about my deficiencies as a writer, poet and artist. I called myself a rotten person, wife, mother, daughter, and friend. I gave a lot of space to the negative things in my life. Wow, what a bummer, eh?
There weren’t very many posts where I shouted out about how great I was doing with a book project or how a poem came together absolutely perfectly or how a piece of art went from the picture in my head to the picture on the page in a way that made me gasp. I have those moments but I didn’t write about them very often. I’d like to change that. I’d like to celebrate the every day moments of my life, the weird, the wacky, and the wonderful.
Today was a pretty typical day. The first thought I had when I woke up was about how to fix a design issue on the garden site. Which got me to thinking about the garden blog. Which got me to thinking about how I wanted to relaunch this writing blog/website today which meant I needed a blog post. So I stayed in bed, closed my eyes, and sorted through some possible blog topics. Greg Pincus just wrote a post about social media guilt and I thought about writing a response to that since I’m returning to blogging after a long absence. I decided not to because sometimes giving voice to something I’m thinking about gives it power and for once I wanted to step back into blogging without making an apology. I blogged. I stopped. I decided to blog again.
Because I want to write more Of Dogs and Writing posts I wondered if I could find a way to link them together. Which for some reason made me think of National Poetry Month and the project I have planned for this year and my Kickstarter idea for next year. Then I thought I should really write about exhibiting my art in a gallery for my very first show which has me alternately excited and petrified. (I don’t expect everyone to like my work, or to buy it – though that would be nice – but I sure hope I don’t overhear anyone talking negatively about it.) All that thinking reminded me that it was probably time to reread my three “go to” books: Art and Fear, Callings, and The Creative Habit.
Keep in mind I had all these thoughts before I even got out of bed. That’s the way my mind works.
By afternoon I had checked in with a couple of friends, titled and priced my art for the show, worked on the cover of the art journal that is also going into the show and took Cassie to the vet. In-between times I spent in my chair in the corner of the library taking pictures of the birds and then later, I wandered around the garden and captured some great shots of a few newly blooming plants.
It was a busy day. I didn’t finish any one thing and yet I am profoundly happy. I saw some progress on a couple of projects. I jotted down ideas for an art series and some notes for a poem about Cassie, and brainstormed my Kickstarter poetry project. I spent the day doing things I love.
I’m a lucky gal. I can finally not only recognize but accept that my life is always going to be a patchwork sort of life made of blocks of time devoted to the various things that interest me. Maybe that doesn’t make me an expert in any one thing. Or maybe it does.
I’m pretty good at being me.
Love the patchwork, less-guilty you I’m seeing here! Congratulations on the new blog!
Whoops, still new around WordPress and it looks like my reply to you, Jeannine, went elsewhere. Thanks for stopping by. There are still a few things I don’t feel very comfortable about with WordPress but I think it’s going to be good. I didn’t realize I could reply to comments from within the dashboard.
Even before reading your post–CONGRATS on the art show!–I noticed that you were featuring your original art in your sidebar, a sign of confidence. You’ve been busy with nice stuff and it’s great to see!
Thanks so much, Barb. I’m TRYING to feel more confident but it’s hard!
I love patchworks! And what a beautiful way to design a life.
Jeanette, Thanks so much for stopping by and for the kind words.
Thanks, Jeannine! Hmmm, I’m wondering why people’s icons aren’t showing up when I know they have WordPress blogs. I’ll have to take another look at my settings.
wOOp!!!! YAY for your new site and return to blogging! I’ve missed you! So happy to see you here! xoxox
Thanks, Debbi! Glad to be here. I’ve missed blogging and am out of the habit.
Congrats on the move of your blog. This post reminds me to be gentle with myself . I am reminded that it’s okay that I haven’t written at Deowrtier in awhile, I have many interests as well and working full time, it makes for a challenge to get to them. Thanks for reminding its okay. Congrats on your first art show. How exciting.
Thanks for coming by, Jone. And yes, be gentle with yourself. We are too quick to beat ourselves up for what we don’t do and we are made much more interesting by the many things we do Do.
Love the new blog! Congratulations on the art show. I’d loved what you’ve shared with us.
Thanks, Terri!
Hi blog! 🙂
Hey lady! Hope the acting biz is going well.
OMG, you’re in a gallery show?!? But that’s huge! Why don’t you tell us this stuff, girl?
I guess it still feels weird, Peni. Hard to believe. But I’m putting it out there now. Thanks for swinging by.