If I could choose a superpower, I'd want two: the twin powers of discipline and perseverance.
Actually, they weren't my first choice. My immediate impulse was to choose the ability to make cool things.
But you know what? I already have that. I can write, so I can make up fantastical stories. I know how to sew, so I can design and make pretty quilts. I can play piano, so I can make music. I have art supplies, so I can draw and paint. I have basic and intermediate skills, and I have raw materials, so I can create neat stuff.
I am only limited by discipline and perseverance.
Unfortunately, there is no genie waiting to grant my wish. No snapping of fingers will give me the powers I want. Discipline and perseverance are cultivated only through commitment over time. You gotta keep on keeping on.
But that doesn't mean you can't strategize.
For example, I have so many ideas. I have so many interests. I have so many works-in-progress. Yet, another sparkly brain child comes to mind and I immediately want to ditch the others and start a new project. Then years later I come across something that I spent months on and never finished and I wonder, why?
Sometimes you just have to prioritize. You have to pick one project and see it through to the end, and then another and another. The satisfaction of finishing something is your reward for persevering. You get to post on social media: this thing I started 12 years ago is finally done!
So while I'm working on the quilt-in-progress for my son and the one for my new granddaughter, I'm daydreaming about the one I'm planning for a wedding gift in March (yeow! that's soon!).
While I'm working on poems for a contest, I'm also thinking about the plot problems in my novel.
And while I'm working on those projects, my piano, guitar, recorder, and ukulele are gathering dust. <Sigh.>
You can't do every good thing. Especially if you also have responsibilities to family or to a job. But with some judicial strategizing, you may be able to schedule a little time to do the things you love.
I write at least a little every day. This little blog post took me two sessions to write. Lots of people have produced books by writing a little bit every day.
I work on quilting every Saturday morning, and also one more morning most weeks, Wednesday if I can, or whenever we don't have another commitment. And if I'm ever watching television when I'm not exhausted, I'll do handwork, like stitching down a binding or maybe some crocheting.
I used to play piano for an hour after dinner, but I don't seem to have time to do that anymore. I'm hoping someday it will be possible to play for half an hour. That would be a nice start toward regular practice again.
My creative life would be so much easier if someone could just bestow ready-made discipline and perseverance on me. But that ain't gonna happen, so I'd better stop complaining and buckle down.
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