Still Remodeling . . .

My Life - Room by Room

I painted this version of my studio a very long time ago. It represented my ideal creative space.

My studio(s) have never looked like this, of course. I can only dream of anything this clean and simple and organized. But I am hell bent on getting at least to the simple part. I think clean and organized will be right behind.

My next couple of posts will be about a search for sanity, in spite of the times in which we live. I think you will identify and I welcome any of your suggestions on the subject.

GOT TIME?

Simplifying space is such an important thing, but simplifying time might just be more important than that

We all have the same number of hours in a day, but most of us don’t think we have enough to do everything we have to do.

As I have told you, I accidentally retired a year and a half ago from a business that I thought took up most of my time. So there should be such an abundance of free time now, right?

And my gardening keeps me so busy in the summer. But this year has been the worst gardening year ever. First, it was so cold for so long into June, and then it has been beastly hot since mid then and you can only sneak out there in the early evening or almost dark to tend the plants and birds. The few annuals I added, have gotten sunburned and faded, and even my Zucchini is not making Zucchinis - only blossoms. Good grief! If you can’t grow Zucchini, there is something really wrong.

But since I am not spending hours per day in the garden, I should have a lot of extra time, right? It sure doesn’t feel that way.

So, my hunch is that our sense of having time for things is more about habit than actual available hours.

Our choices and priorities determine what we actually have time for. Once we understand that, we can move into the idea that we do have time for whatever we want to do.

But we must protect our time, because it is under assault 24/7.

We are always “on call” for anyone else’s agenda, because we have devices that are always on and always with us.

A good exercise is to sit down one of these mornings and leave the computer and devices off for two hours. Think about what you would *like* to do for those two hours and do it. Two hours is a good choice because it seems that so many things can be done in that much time.

No one out there is going to die because you ignore a call or text for a couple of hours, and if someone does die, someone else will get through to let you know.

Think about this: A short time ago, we were just unreachable for large parts of the day and that was ok. Phones were at home or at work and if we weren’t in either of those places, they did not interrupt us. We could pick up voicemail only when we were near a phone and its answering machine. Remember how nice that was?

Being interrupted plays a very large role in our feeling that we don’t have the time to get things done. We don’t even realize what a diversion an interruption is.

Concentration, especially these days, is hard to achieve. When a call or text chimes in, even a short response takes you completely out of your concentration state, and getting back to where you were takes time and effort.

That doesn’t seem like a big deal, but when it happens so many times in a day, it becomes a big deal

You know how sometimes, you go into another room to get something and can’t remember what to get when you get there? They say that is because you passed through a doorway which created a new space experience unconnected to the previous one. A text or phone call takes that to a much higher level.

I love tech as much as, maybe more than the next person, but I am willing to shut it down to make time for other things that I love.

What do you think? How do you make time for what you love? Leave a comment below.

Next time, I’ll be talking about social media.

And now for

Inside the Studio . . .

I don’t care for the term “paid subscription” and I am hereby changing the name of mine to “Inside the Studio”. Though the cost will remain the same, the content will be enhanced on the learning level. Starting September 1, every member of Inside the Studio, will be given a coupon for a free workshop of mine (your choice) - good for that month. This will repeat every month that you are a paid subscriber. Also, subscribers will be able to hang out with me in the Chat for questions and feedback. I am thinking of this as my art school plus perks. Stay tuned.

And for current Inside the Studio subscribers, check your email for an article I wrote on “spending” time, and on fun ways to manage it using bullet journaling. . .