Breaking up is hard to do...

Breaking Up is Hard to Do...

What is gained, what is lost -- maybe its time to break up?

"Lazy bum," my inner critic murmurs. This is after exactly four days post a fabulous farewell brunch with 18 campers and staff members after the third season of Summer Art Camp at The Camp at Capilla Peak here in New Mexico's Manzano Mountains. I say back, "Give me a break...."

For the self-employed artists among us (and I suspect others, too) taking a real break from work (and the play that sometimes feels like work and the work that sometimes feels like play) can be a challenge-- mental, physical and spiritual. Even loving what we do and doing what we love (especially so). But summer, fall, spring and winter and even daily "breaking up" is essential to the creative process. Without time to refill, refresh, restore, relax we not only tax our physical selves, but we can run out of the courage to create anew. Recycling ideas is okay for a while, but it your work is feeling stale or slightly boring, maybe you need to break up with it for a while.

The most difficult part of the process for me is silencing that toxic inner voice that says "Push on, push on, there's more to be done and not enough time to do it." This mid-summer newsletter is an attempt to placate that voice, and yet know that porch-sitting, bird-watching, do-not-much time is waiting with the buzzer. Yep, put on the buzzer, folks. Breaking up is easier with a buzzer. Give yourself the hour or two for the most pressing chore, then do nothing for a while. It gets easier, the more you practice breaking up with "the voice."