Seems hard to believe that the new year has started, and January is half way through. All my creative projects that stopped at the end of the year are back in full swing. But, frankly, part of me is still on holiday break. With the stress of the pandemic, and the energy of winter (even in L.A.) part of the time I’m more interested in taking a nap than putting words on the page.
Today, for example, I set out to tackle a number of projects. I’m prepping two different pitches and am in the midst of some work wrapping up things at my day job. But when I sat down to work, I found myself distracted. Rather than doing what I planned to do, I started surfing the Internet. Before I knew it, I was mesmerized by an infomercial and I was on a full-fledged mini shopping spree.
Procrastination is an occupational hazard for any artist. Our work requires focus, and sometimes that focus isn’t there. Even though I had creative work plans, my attention span had other ideas. I started to feel crappy about it and I reached out to some artist friends to confess. The response I got was eye-opening.
It was suggested that maybe stepping away from the work was exactly what I needed. Maybe my mind and heart and psyche needed a break. Would it be the end of the world to do a few other things in my day? Would it be a disaster to take the entire afternoon off? I realized it wouldn’t be the worst thing. In fact, sneaking away to surf the web was tremendously satisfying. Afterwards, I found myself willing to step back into writing – on both my creative projects.
The big fear around procrastination goes like this, if we step away from our art, maybe we’ll never step back into the zone of productivity. I know creative people who decided not to continue with their artistic work, and you probably do, too. But the fact that those folks exist doesn’t mean that we’re destined to become them. Walking away from writing forever and walking away for an afternoon (or a few weeks) are entirely different things. As long as you keep track of your progress overall, and you’re moving forward (whatever that means to you) what difference does a hiatus make?
Do your best to find gentleness in the ups and downs of the process, even when the process stops looking like what you thought the process should be. Sometimes resting, vacationing or surfing the web is exactly what needs to happen. A little time off can result in a lot of productivity (or a little) on the other end.
This week, as you show up to do your work, hold the possibility that downtime is as important as uptime. If writing is about following your impulses, then it can also be about following your impulse to go off on some non-work-related tangent. See how things unfold for you as you dip into periods of rest alongside periods of work.
And, of course, let me know how it goes.
