The Subtle Art of Dodging Distractions
Finding Time To Be Creative Amidst Everyday Distractions
Oh happy day - starting with my journal over breakfast with earl grey and a soft playlist is, for me, such a wonderful way to start the day.
Today is a good day! I started with art and a little creative journalling with my favourite tea, breakfast and some soft music- exactly the way I like it. The kind of start social media posts make look effortless… But here’s the thing - NOT effortless at all! Here’s what the photos don't show…
Being an artist and a parent (not to mention working full time as well) certainly has its challenges. There is always something trying to pull my attention away from my art goals and my practice. The dryer, beeps. The dishwasher, beeps. The washing machine, beeps. The cat brings me a terrified "present" that I must release. The teen asks me random, loaded, complicated questions, or asks for permission to do something crazy while I look “distracted”. Then I’ll remember it is bin day, or watering day and I dash to do my duty. Then, when I return and finally find my focus again, the cat is back, this time asking me to open the door... and on it goes.
There is always something, and that doesn’t include all the BIG stuff that can really rock your day, so being an artist is sometimes harder than it looks.
You have to be really really determined to get anything done at all!
There’s lots of advice online about how to do that – put your phone in another room on silent, put a sign on the door saying: “Do Not Disturb”, tell you friends and family that this time is set aside just for you… But the reality is, that kids and pets don’t really respond to those kinds of requests, and I don’t know about you, but I use my phone for everything! It controls my music to set the mood, records my videos and takes my photos, edits everything, is a dictionary, thesaurus, spell checker, encyclopedia, photo reference, access to social media…. The list is endless. So, it isn’t really feasible to put my phone in another room switched off.
So, what’s the solution?
Honestly, I think it is different for everyone. I know what works for me, wouldn’t work for a parent with toddlers, or an artist with a pet parrot, or someone whose art space is actually a communal kitchen in a big family. I think you need to list your pet peeves and creative blocks and then find solutions for each of them, akin to a cat burglar artfully dodging laser beam security in a museum.
“Carving out art time is itself, an art form.”
I know that the best chance I have for getting anything done is before everyone else wakes up, or after they have either left the house, or gone to bed. Fortunately, I am an early riser, so I get from about 6-9am on weekends before the teen stumbles out of bed. So that’s the time I use. Early mornings are quiet in my house. The teen sleeps. The cats are fed and off for their morning stroll before their nap, and the considerate world considers it rude to connect before 9am so my phone is usually quiet too. This works for me (most of the time).
What will work for you?
I have an artist friend who leaves the house and creates in a café for her quiet. I know others who go to a group and create in a gallery space. When my kids were little, I used to go to play centres with my headphones in and sit in the cleanest quietest corner I could find for the couple of hours that would safely entertain.
Ask yourself:
Do you need it quiet to create? When is the house quietest? loudest?
When are you usually left alone?
Where can you sit that no one will notice or interrupt? Do you need to leave the house?
Can you work in smaller time bites?
Are you giving yourself permission to focus on what delights you?
How can you set your space up for success, wherever you are, in your nanoseconds of serenity?
Whatever it is you need to make creative time happen, do it!
We all do what we have to do, and I say again… you have to be REALLY determined to complete your projects - lucky I am :)
How determined are you?