(This is the fifth in a series of posts following Tyla Tharp’s book The Creative Habit. All the previous posts are collected in the Summer Blog Project category.)
A very important part of this portion of the book deals with
work rituals. What do you do when you prepare to work. She sees it as a
focusing mechanism, and I agree. I talked about sitting down to work every day,
but I didn’t go into my own ritual. That is because it is summer and my life is
entirely different in the summer than it is the rest of the year.
My studio is in my home. At this point in my life, I do not
have the luxury of a separate studio. My husband is a teacher and he is off for
the summer, our daughter is still a student and usually (but not this summer, she is studying abroad in New Zealand)
she is hanging around too.
Summer dislodges my rituals. I used to be upset during the
summer, because it becomes so hard to get anything done. Reading this book has
made me realize that it is the disruption of my work ritual, right from the
beginning of the day, that throws me off.
On the plus side, I love the extra time with the people I love. We are so
lucky that we are able to spend this time together.
So, instead of griping about how everyone interrupts me and
that I never get any work done, I have decided to use my summer as a break in
the routine. A time to experiment and explore, to go out and have experiences.
I work when I can, and I accept the fact that I won’t get as much done as I do
the rest of the year.
Comments