Coming Home. They say it is the best part of going away.
This is true for me indeed. Sometimes I really need a getaway. Lately I took a few days away in the city. Some nice meals. A tiny bit of shopping, some new soap and socks kinda shopping and a lot of walking.
When I was leaving the house to go away I was elated. It felt a bit like walking on a cloud. When I was leaving the city to come home I felt ready and somewhat relieved. Relieved that I did like my old life after all. After just two nights I so wanted to go home.
We do our best each day to create a life we like. We work with whatever is in our control to live the best we can. We create our homes, we choose the food we eat, we set up routines for ourselves. We build in exercise and wellness. We make a life. We make a life we want.
Then we want to get away from it.
We do our best to make our lives good. Then we need a break from them.
Funny isn't it? Yet for many of us it is true.
I am lucky that I do not need long breaks. In fact, as soon as I break for more than a day I begin to miss my routine. My normal simple breakfast becomes hard to find in a world that wants to sell you croissants and egg benny. I just want a little bowl of plain yogurt. Oh that sounds so boring. It sounds boring, but it isn't. Not for me because it is the life I am making. One blessed by routine. Quiet dull little routines that leave me room to create, to make, to learn, to grow.
A routine of our own choosing is underrated I think. When you can carry on your routine that you created it means that there is no upset, no wildness, no great losses to contend with. You can do things in the manner and time that you want. That to me is a luxury. Yet sometimes I balk at it like it was not me who created it in the first place. That is a signal of course. It means the routine might need to be changed up slightly. Perhaps it's in need of refinement.
Perhaps the seasons are changing and what was perfect for winter now needs a spring refresh. I could see that when I got back after just two days away. It was time for a little tune up.
For me a routine frames the beginning and the end of the day. I like to leave the middle wide open with barely any appointments or plans. My mornings are left open for hooking. I like not having anything to do because I always have something to do. There is always something to make or to write. What sounds boring isn't boring. Its space in a day to create.
Now I know that is a luxury. Being an artist is hard work, but it is also luxurious. You have to show up, delve all your energy into something. You have to make something. That is you have to make that time real.
I need that time and space to bring forth what is inside me. I often don't know what that is until I sit down to make. It comes out in the making. So not only am I making, but I am also on this infinite quest, this searching of myself and the world around me for inspiration. And that too is hard work. But hard work is often good work.
Showing up is half the work. Go to your frame today and be there with whatever project you have on the go. Don't judge it, just join it at whatever stage it is at and make it. Love the fact that you have the time to be there, whether it is ten minutes or an hour. The time is yours. Make it part of your routine and I think it will bless you.
Sometimes, like me, you will need to go away from it so you can want it again. Like this morning, I so wanted to write to you and tell you this. To tell you that because you are there I have a reason to write, and giving someone a reason to write is a beautiful thing. So if you need to step away for a day or two do. Be sure, though, to come back to it because it is good. And it is waiting for you.
Thank you for being there.
