"Life is too busy."
"The kids are crazy and the house is a mess."
"You don't understand the pressures of work right now. It is a very important time in my career and I need to focus energy there for just a bit longer."
I know this far too well.
I want to paint.
But I don't really paint that often.
I am writing this email out of anger. Anger for always pushing the things that I want to do, and love to do, that truly make myself who I am, into the future for some 'other time.'
If you feel like I do, then here are 8 voices in my head that seem to help me stay in the studio instead of heading off to my emails to do 'important' things...
1) Imagine yourself super old and near death, looking back on your life wishing you just did what you love. Just go paint for 1 hour.
2) Test skipping out of 'important things'. See if you get in trouble or if the world ends because you were doing something you wanted to do. Just paint for half an hour.
3) Don't respond to any emails in the morning. Or a few days. Just paint for as long as you want.
4) Purposely forget your phone at home or at work so that you are at least free from one thing. Just paint for an hour.
5) Tear up your to-do lists and ride free for as long as you can. Just paint.
6) Painting as a priority means that you prioritize painting before doing other things that feel important. That is what the word 'priority' means.
7) Wanting something to be priority means that you have to make it a priority. Go paint before you do anything else.
8) Don't take pictures or make any videos or social media posts about yourself painting. Just go paint for the rest of the day.
I hope one of these thoughts help you talk back to yourself when you catch yourself telling yourself that you are too busy to do what you love.
