Though running your own creative business is an exciting venture finding a balance between life and what you love to do is pretty hard to find. Sometimes it too easy to become engrossed in putting loads of time into your creative venture to start building things up from your portfolio to your website , however in your pursuit for quicker results this can often lead to becoming frustrated with what you draw and feeling things just aren’t panning out right (believe me I’ve been there). This is why balancing out your creative life is important, working too hard or intensely on your creative practice can wear down your idea’s and prevent you from creating things you are happy to shout about and share with others. So here are 3 tips to a balancing out your own creative life;
1. Find time to do the other things you love
Finding time to do things you love that’s outside of the business is important, this can be anything from sport to other creative activities and though I know how much you may love to design , stitch , doodle and paint taking the time for yourself will just give you not only time to chill out but also gain new ideas and inspiration from other places.
2. Find time to do things to wind down the creative trail of thought
Repeat after me “I’m going to relax , slow down and put my feet up for a minute” , if like me you’re the biggest culprit for not relaxing then hopefully this tip will help quite a few of you . If your mind and body are active all the times you can easily wear yourself out so things like yoga is a great activity to do to just really wind down your mind and body not to mention its good for your health , although if yoga’s not your thing there are other things you could try to chillax and wind down.
3. Socialising with people you know
Being creatives we love feeling cosy in our own personalised creative spaces, although there is one catch working from your home studio can be a little isolating unless of course you rent a studio space situated with other creatives . So it’s important to get a break away from your work even for a little while to share thoughts with other like minded people or close friends giving you food for thought or breathing space to recharge your batteries before getting back to work.
At the end of the day it’s important to remember that your creative business will only work at its best when you yourself are at your best aswell. The key thing is to just have fun with every project you do but also have fun outside of the business at the same time because finding your own personalised creative balance is sure to help it grow.
Image by designer Vicky riley you can find more of her work here .
Without a doubt, it's a challenge being a mom, working full-time, writing, promoting a book, and being an MFA student.
Sometimes, I feel like I go from one job to another, so when it's time to cook dinner, it's a source of major stress. I actually like to cook, but I don't know how to cook too many things. This past year, I've focused on eating fresher foods so I'm not in favor of box-a-meals, although I do use them.
I'm fortunate to have a dietitian at work and I've recently starting keeping a food diary on My Fitness Pal. My meals are too carb heavy so I was challenged to come up with some other ideas.
I'd like to branch out and learn more quick meals so she gave me an awesome cookbook, The New Soul Food Cookbook. It's actually a book for diabetics which I'm not, but I am trying to make meals low in carbs and sugars to help me lose weight.
It has delicious looking recipes with only a few ingredients-Perfect for a working mom. I can't wait to try some.
Tonight we made a really tasty meal and my daughter actually made the hot dog dish. I made the quinoa salad.
Here's how we did it:
Hot Dogs: (Let your kids make this)
I put some melted butter in a small bowl, and she painted slices of 100% whole wheat bread.
She put a turkey hot dog in the middle, then wrapped the bread (buttered side out) around the hot dog. We fastened it with a skewer because I didn't have a toothpick.
We baked for 18 minutes on 325 degrees.
Quinoa:
I made the quinoa according to the instructions on the box, except I used vegetarian broth instead of water to give it extra flavor. I put some yellow squash, carrots, and zucchini in my mini food processor, then added that to the quinoa. I also threw in some grape tomatoes and green beans from our garden.
Quinoa is a good alternative to rice or pasta. It has protein in it and isn't as starchy. Plus it's a great dish to hide your veggies in.
We added some fresh strawberries as another side dish.
It was a filling meal, not to mention nutritious. It was great to have my daughter actually make part of the meal and she was so proud of herself. It only took 20 minutes, and was minimal clean-up. Two big positives in my house.
Here's a photo:
Aaaand I'm off to Plymouth again today. Here I go on my brand-new stripy legs.
I've made it a habit to buy clothes in my lunch break. It's the way that in Plymouth you can actually try clothes on in the shops without queueing up for ages. Mind-boggling to London-me.
I'm also getting used to the four hours on the train, and I'm taking books to study, and my novel notebook.
This time I'm taking my drawing materials and an A3 sketchbook along so I can work on my graphic novel in the B&B. I really want to get it finished soon.
When I get back, I'll buy a new mattress, seeing that I'm spending much of my spare time asleep these days. I'll also buy a projector so I can practise giving lectures with drawing demonstrations. I want to put a good show together that I can easily adjust to different events so I can stop worrying about preparing every single one. It'll still be mostly improvised, of course.
Also that means that I can have a home cinema, with a screen that comes down from the ceiling... I'm really looking forward to my first weekend off, properly off, and I will invite friends around to watch Star Wars. Not the prequels. And no added CGI.
But popcorn!
So sort of like a pig in the blanket, just w/the better choice of wheat bread! =)
I agree with Leandra. It sounds a lot like a pig in a blanket. :)
Quinoa is a favorite grain at our home. Really tasty, cooks light and is so high in protein you don't need to add much...
Reading all you are juggling, consider yourself a miracle worker.