The holidays are often stressful, with too many social obligations, too many presents to buy and too many conflicting things vying for our attention. We often come to the end of the year and feel disappointment for all the things that didn’t happen.
But what if we reframed it? What if this time of year were the chance to get really clear on what’s important to us? That’s the theme of holiday classic movies like It’s A Wonderful Life. What if we didn’t need a crisis or a holiday to live every day as our wonderful life?
For creative people, this can be a great time to assess our creative vitality. What did we put energy into? How did our actions fuel our creative work?
Take a look at your daily activities. Check out:
• what you ate
• what you read
• what you listened to
• who you hung out with
• what activities you did in your town.
Do these things align with what you care about and what you want to create? This isn’t meant to be an opportunity for your inner critic to bring you down; instead, an opportunity to recommit to doing what you can to craft an environment that serves your creative vitality.
When I did this through my annual review process, I saw a lot of things that contributed to my life as a creative adventure. And there were some things that detracted from my satisfaction with my life and work. It’s a chance to commit to new things next year that feed my soul and art.
Do you take good care of your creative self? If so, make this holiday season a chance to honor your creative exuberance. Whatever you did this year to write, make art, and make yourself the best version you can be, celebrate that.
I celebrate you and your creativity wholeheartedly. I’m raising a toast to you from Denver!
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