Saturday, April 22, 2017

Positive Changes Starting Today

I am a creative person.  But lately, I've noticed that I have been in a rut.  I've not been creating.  Writing, music, writing music, drawing, doing all the things I do to create art.  I haven't been doing very much of that.

What have I been doing?  I have been wasting time on social media.  Twitter.  Facebook.  I have been liking temporary things that other people have been doing.  Reading articles other people have shared.  Lots of them have been interesting, and many of them have been helpful.  I've been liking and reacting to creative things other people have been doing, while neglecting that aspect in myself.

The first step of any recovery is admitting that one has a problem.  I have a problem.  I have been using social media via apps on my phone to escape.  Too much.  Last week, I uninstalled Facebook, and Facebook Messenger from my phone.  I will log onto Facebook from the internet every other day for about 15 minutes to keep current with events, interests, and my social media buddies.  This has been good.  I more mindful of my surroundings.  I am more connected to the people around me.

Today I took additional steps.  I uninstalled Twitter and Tinder from my phone.  The latter part of this week, I have noticed that I am checking Twitter for news.  After reading the news, I have been feeling very depressed.  I am a very sensitive person existing in an unfair and violent, but also inspiring and dramatic world.  I don't watch television.  Not being connected to outside news sources is an unfamiliar feeling.  It is also liberating.

So after some really wonderful friendship time, I arrived home to a different world than to the one I have been accustomed.  I didn't zone out on social media.  I picked up my apartment a bit.  I searched all over for materials for a sculpture that I started creating, but never finished.  It is painstaking work.  It isn't even a quarter complete.  I found the small wood stand that the finished work will be perched on.  I found the sculpture.  I could not find the glue that I was using.  I decided to buy a glue gun.  I gathered all of the components in a bag and I hung it over my creativity table.  The life of an artist is constantly exiting like this.

I am allowing myself to keep Instagram.  I'm not going completely Luddite!  I just shared a picture I took today of an unusual and bright double rainbow I saw in South Seattle.  I could keep a pretty picture like that to myself, but why?

Will these changes lead to increased artistic productivity?  I am writing this, obviously, so there's your answer.  I feel good about uninstalling the social media apps.

Change feels strange, but it is important to embrace doing things differently to grow as a person and artist.  I'm on it!  I'm planning to write another post in my peanut survival blog this week.  And I'm looking forward to buying a glue gun and finishing my sculpture.  this is who I am.  I am a creator.  It's time I create.


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