March: Create
Welcome back to 2023’s self-care intention journey! This is designed to be self-led, you create your own intentions, and any thought or action taken toward that action is beneficial! After all, what we put our energy toward grows, so let’s put our energy now into Creation.
Springtime is right around the corner! Let's connect with the seasons and blossom. Let your mind be fertile, use your hands.
Weave, loom, knit, paint, draw, bake, cook, write, build, grow, glue, shape, mold, crochet, sew, design, sculpt, trim, move, plant, play, sing, compose... Do any of these things, but don't focus on these---
Perfection:
Create whatever you want, but the key is not to focus on the final project, but on the experience. People talk themselves out of super cool creative experiences all the time because they "won't be good". Who says? And who cares? The goal is not to make a masterpiece, or to be a "natural" when trying something new, it's to get into a flow state. (Flow state means "in the zone", mindful, fully present in an experience. The mind should be quiet, and time should fly by).
I liked making pottery as a kid so I though I would take a risk and enroll in a ceramics class. My end products from my last ceramics class looked eerily similar to the ceramics I made when I was eight, but the experience of touching wet clay, molding it, getting frustrated, getting excited, my hand hurting, making something transform, was amazing. Time flew.
Side Hustle:
Society has taught us that everything we spend time and energy on should be in the pursuit of making money (thanks Capitalism!) Do you enjoy knitting? Sell that at craft fairs! Like painting? Start a small business! Into wood working or jewelry making? Etsy here we come! We have been convinced that the only worthwhile pursuits are the ones that are lucrative, which is ridiculous. We don't have to publish, sell, or share on social media. We can make things for the sake of just making them, it is still a meaningful use of our time.
Adulting:
Stop thinking like an adult, and start thinking like a kid! What did you enjoy playing with as a kid? Were you into coloring/painting? Did you play dress up or experiment with makeup? Were you always outdoors playing in mud and with sticks? Did you love craft time? Were you into puzzles or play-doh? Did you like building with blocks? What classes did you take when you got older that you were into? Shop, acting, music, cooking, robotics, design, photography?... When did you last do that just for fun?
Think about not only what you liked to do, but why you liked to do it. Did you like how play-doh felt in your hands? Did you like blending colors together? Do you like creating stories? What about that experience do you like/need, and how can you replicate it?
How do you begin to feel as you make more space for creating? What do you notice?
Resources:
Wishing you imagination, creativity, and flow!