January is often filled with setting intentions for the coming months ahead - at least it is for me, but intentions go nowhere without a plan to make them happen. As a goal oriented and shamefully overly organized person I try to take time to figure out not only what I want to accomplish in the coming months, but also how I will achieve my goals. It also means setting some time aside to do it.
For me, this means setting reasonable timelines and then setting incremental steps to achieve those goals. Easier said than done I know. Breaking down lofty goals into small digestible bits helps make the tasks feel more accomplishable while also choosing to live a busy daily life. I have to be willing to take the time to figure out what the first step is and whether I actually want to do something really or not. I often fail to accomplish most of them or they evolve and change as I go. I choose to stay open to the flow and steer when it seems I need to.
As most of you know, I keep myself organized in an art journal. It’s a “bullet journal” of sorts, but it works for me. What it really does is help me hold myself accountable for the things I want in my creative life. Keeping it maintained keeps me focused on what is important to me.
For this coming year I’m working towards settling into establishing some new rhythms to help me write more and balance the work side my creative life more fluidly - I’m still working on the steps it will take to accomplish this task.
I have a two page spread in my journal I call Dream Big. It is marked with a tab for easy access. My Dream Big page is broken out into 12 months at a glance. Each month I give myself no more than 4 tasks and no less than 1 task to accomplish. This way the goals stay achievable without also becoming overwhelming. Sometimes the task is hanging a show. Sometimes it is drafting an email that could end in rejection. Sometimes it is as simple as getting items together for a project I want to make down the road or dreaming up a newsletter. Some months the task is to rest and reset. I hesitate to use the word self-care, but for me it is.
Do I really have to put rest on my calendar? Yep. I use rest time to evaluate what’s going and whether it is working or not. “Rest breaks'' help me stay balanced. They remind me to take time to assess what really matters to me and I am keeping those things at the forefront of what I am doing in my life. I have to have them on the calendar and plan for them or else I will bulldoze right over them and add more stuff to my schedule. Anybody else do that?
Thus, I write in pencil - so I can erase and change things when the winds blow from a different direction.
Adaptability is a necessary trait to thriving and surviving.
Less noise helps.
Diversity is the key to a healthy habitat.
Being organized in a place that holds most of my thoughts and dreams creatively helps me to not get lost in the static. I have to find ways to stay awake or else I forget what matters to me most simply trying to survive being a human.
Meanwhile..
In my studio I am knee deep settling into my last new place for a while. For those of you who do not know we bought a lovely little ranch home on a dead end in Mayberry - I mean, Winterville, Georgia. Turns out we are not city folk. I think only we were surprised by that. Thought let’s be honest were we really?
We have been swallowed by boxes for weeks. We are now nesting into our new home and getting the boxes unpacked. We are dreaming new dreams and polishing old ones.
During this time while most of my tools are waiting for me I’ve been thinking about the seeds I am sowing for 2024. I have chosen the word LIVE. I’m not sure what it means to me just yet. I don’t ask too many questions when the gut speaks.
Even amidst all this planning and goal setting I have a couple of cool things to share.
I have a show that has opened at the Art+Athletics Gallery. It is a privately owned gallery. If you would like to make an appt to see my works the owner and curator is happy to coordinate that. I will be having a closing reception on April 13 from 4-6pm.The gallery is off her home so she does not publicly give the address. You can contact me via email and I will be glad to pass that information to you.
In VERY exciting news, I am going to be a featured artist in Art Quilting Studio - June 2024! I haven’t shared this information publicly yet.. so if you have made it this far reading you are one of the first to know!!
Stay tuned!
I think it is going to be an interesting year.