It's a balancing act of caring for those around us, working a demanding job, not having enough time to sleep or eat, let alone taking time for a creative endeavour. So how do we do find time?

I have struggled with this myself. I used to make time for other priorities dropping creativity to the bottom of the list, until I started to look at how to make this a priority. Not only for my own self-care, but nurturing my creative spirit. It was then Doodle Lovely was born helping to provide a pocket of time for me.

I want to share with you some ways you can find the space for the quietness you need:

Think small: Often we can be all or nothing, we have BIG visions. This is great, but can be overwhelming and a recipe for not starting something in the first place. Beginning with a small amount of time, even 5 minutes will do, and is an opportunity to nurture your creative spirit while honouring time for you.

Set a goal: It’s important! Just say my goal will be to doodle three days this week, I will set a goal and then ask myself how can I achieve it? If my goal is larger - like designing a new Doodle By Number Book, I break my milestones down... every week for an hour I would work on one doodle illustration. Creating a goal and planning for it is a powerful way to motivate yourself.

Look at your weekly schedule: How many times have you thought you would love to take the time to do something for yourself, but this never happens? Looking at your weekly schedule and booking in a time is critical. On Sunday I look at my schedule for the week, I have a reminder on my phone that alerts me to take a 5 minute doodle break everyday (I need it!). If you’re working on a larger project, is there a time you can book in every week?

Saying no: This is the most difficult and requires practice. Every time someone asks you to do something and you say yes, you are saying no to yourself. Be sure to say yes to things that are truly important vs feeling pressured to do.

Protecting our creative time: It’s easy to say "I don’t have time", "something has come up", "I am busy", "I will do this next week". But the reality is this, we do have time. We just do not protect it, feeling deep down we don't deserve it. If there was ever a time I could share that this is a load of poop, then that is now. You not only are deserving, it is a necessity in keeping health and happiness in check.

Being grateful for anytime you have: This is a really important one, every little or longer bit of time you have, cherish it. These bits of time are helping you toward your goals, your personal and creative growth. 

If you are thinking, Melissa I still do not have time to do any of the above; a really great way to see just how much you do have, is to track your time in the run of a day. Right down to those 10 minute lulls. You may be quite surprised how your time is being spent. 

The stat is … we spend an average of 4 hours a day, scrolling on the internet and watching TV. Can you imagine if we just took 10 minutes to nurture our creativity in a day how good we would feel!

So, this is what has worked for me and no, I did not do them all at once. I actually started small - scheduling time in for me first. I gradually worked on the other parts.

I hope this will help you find more time doing the creative things you love. 

We all know when "The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul." we just have to make time for it!

Helping you calm the chaos one doodle at a time,

Melissa x

P.S. Needing help with finding 5 minutes just for you? Enjoy your creative activities HERE

—————————————-

Do you have any questions? I would love to hear from you, please email me on: hello@doodlelovely.com