The Right Things First
You have heard the saying: I got out of the wrong side of the bed today.
It means, "I didn't get the day started off properly" and once things started off in the wrong direction, down the hill it went, like Jack and Jill, and was crap the rest of the day. Sometimes, a bad start to the day is spilled milk or discovering you are out of coffee. (That one will set me off FOR SURE.)
Some days, the alarm goes off and you don't get up. You roll over, skip the workout, (you will do it later, right...) blow off the rest of your morning routine and then it's a rush to get into traffic, then a hurry up and wait in traffic. We get to work with no healthy lunch plans, no clue what’s for dinner, already tired, crabby and ready to snap at the first cheerful person we meet.
Days like these are no fun. We know this isn't good for us.
We know we feel better when we stick to our routines, do some meditating and exercise, eat healthy, clean up a little and throw in that laundry before we are sniffing our undies. So why oh why do we let ourselves get caught in this last-minute muck up?
It's because we are living a reactive life rather than a proactive one.
If life were a garden, we would want it filled with beautiful flowers with no room for weeds to grow. We would spend our time proactively planting and caring for our garden. Otherwise, if we ignored it for very long, we would have an ugly weed garden and spend all of our time pulling weeds and having no fun. (Go ahead, ask me how I know.)
I want to live in a pretty home with a cheery welcoming front door, with an organized life behind that door, pretty flowers, and a peaceful, fun atmosphere. I want my body to be healthy and trim, exercised and well-nourished, my family fed and in shape as well.
I want to explore my creativity, challenge my comfort zones, and expand my horizons.
I love being a published writer, coach and artist. I want to paint more. I want to do more with my photography. Especially now that John and I live in the mountains and everywhere I turn there is breathtaking beauty. We love to spend time hiking and soaking up the beautiful weather.
I love many aspects of creativity and my creative playground is a place where I could hang out for hours, writing and painting, playing my guitar and drums. There is never enough time for all of the creative things I like to do.
On the other hand, there is the wonderland rabbit hole of the Internet. Read just one interesting post and leave a comment. Then notice another interesting title. Click on it. Follow down the rabbit-hole to somewhere interesting...read...leave a comment...notice one of your favorite "Friends" put up a new post...Get outraged! Craft an important comment. Read, click, follow, read, comment, repeat.
Or favorite TV shows. Binge-watching.
Video Games, anyone? Phone calls, emails, to-do lists of things that weren’t that important.
Funny-how-the-day-went away.
Any one of these things done first...and nothing else at all could get done.
No exercise, no meditation, no laundry, no healthy dinner, no grocery shopping, no return phone calls to the important people who actually mattered. Then the next day piles up, and the next and life is suddenly a big catch-up game. The house isn't clean. Dinner is a mystery. We feel more sluggish because the exercise didn't happen. And oh, by the way, now the muse has left because the MUSEdoesn’t want to create in a pigsty either!
First things first.
In order for my life to work right, things have to be done in a certain order. Meditation and journaling first thing in the morning. I need the time of the day to get centered and focus on gratitude, love and daily priorities. Miss that one, and I have gotten out on the wrong side of the bed. Then it’s yoga time. After that, the home blessings, laundry, and meal plans. Once my spirit, body and home are settled, then I can turn on the Creative Juice.
If I do it backward and let the juices flow first, things get things soggy. Now, the added advantage is the Muse will most often come and visit while I am in the routine of the ordinary. When I am doing the little ordinary things where the brain can switch off, then my mind can wander off to play with the muse and go visiting off to *wonderland* that beautiful little world of "I wonder this and I wonder that", which is a very creative place for a writer's brain to be.
This isn't to say that I always get this right. This is to say in fact...that I start to get it right..stumble...fall...get back up and start again. But I do know HOW to do it right. When I'm not distracted. When I FOCUS on putting first things first. When I start my day right side up. Sunnyside up.
How about you? What is your routine? How do you manage to be a creative person and keep it all together? Do you do the same things every day in the same way? Do you have a first things first? An order to your madness? Please share!