You get up, check your email, your news feed, twitter, you tweet something, links, feelings, comments, your meditation, you run to the gym, your day job, juggling five projects you’re working on, on the side, in your head, writing while you write, thinking while you think, multiple levels of processing going on as you blog, video blog, network, always on, always connected. Coffee, drinks, meet ups — everything is live, in the now —
Your creativity is running a triathlon. Full steam ahead, focused and ambitious, purposeful. Because we are always on, connected, even when we are at play — on vacation, at a convention or a meet up. And it’s not that we aren’t also exercising our soul, we live in a state of inspiration, a TED Talk or a Tiny Buddha in every corner. We read it, revel in it then share it! It’s not just enough to read it, think about it our self and then let it go. There are tiny cute buttons at the bottom of the article that beg for you to share.
Does this ring a bell?
I thought it might. Now, Breathe.
I believe there is no time dedicated to developing our art, our soul in private. There is this pressure that we’re always discovering and creating in public, even if we’re taking a break. Everything is an Instagram, maybe a latergram, but never a nevergram. Why would we process and build without a public’s opinion?
I think as busy multi-hyphenate women, we need that reprise, that recharge, where nothing is at stake or being judged. With being connected, you are always present for ‘feedback’. Others are shaping your ideas and your work, even if you don’t realize it.
I have been reading THE ARTIST’S WAY again and am enrolled in Tara Mohr’s Playing Big. Both stress the importance of The Artist Date and taking time to nurture your inner artist / inner child. I then stumbled on this great TED Talk (of course) on the subject of play and the lack of it in adult lives. As many of us work in entertainment, however, there is a certain amount of ‘play’ that goes along with the work that we do. It’s entertainment after all, but I realized that even when we think we are ‘playing’, we are live-blogging it, commenting on it in our various social platforms. It’s become ‘play as a contest’. So how can break free and regain the innocence of truly playing?
I’ve come up with a few suggestions that I’m hoping to follow:
1. Make a pact with yourself that you are enough. You don’t need the approval of your family, friends or social networks. Repeat that again: You don’t need the approval of your family, friends or social networks.
2. Put away your connected devices for a set amount of time. An hour a day? A weekend? One day a month? If you can’t do that, at least hide your social network apps in a folder on your 4th screen. And name the folder ‘Taxes’ or ‘Accounting’ or ‘Sit ups’.
3. There are articles, posts, books and videos you probably want to watch as part of your artist date in order to recharge. But create space away from the connected screen. Treat them like you would your favorite hardcover book. Have a notebook with you to jot down notes and thoughts that these articles inspire.
4. Plan outings that we can call Play Dates. These are activities where you really get to PLAY. No judgment from the outside world, a date that you take with your inner artist child that is just your own – no one else’s – where you can savor an experience on your own.
Here are some ideas of PLAY DATES that I’ve come up with:
The Best Field Trip Ever.
Remember what it was like when you went on a field? When you got to go on a bus with your friends heading to some quasi educational but quasi fun location? You got to get out of Math and Biology! You probably got to eat a different type of lunch, you probably get in trouble for not staying with the group, but you definitely had fun… and I bet you were ‘awed’ by something you saw. Not that you would admit it.
So let’s do that… Where did you go? The aquarium, the zoo, the circus, the planetarium, the observatory… Plan an afternoon there, save the ticket stubs. Have your school notebook and make notes, or just write a note to the cute guy across the food court.
The Moody Road Trip.
— Embrace your inner Jack Kerouac or Hunter S Thompson — Take a road trip to somewhere you’ve wanted to go, equipped with only your notebook and maybe a disposable camera – and see what stories you stumble upon. Be open to the beauty. Be open to connection. And then take the time and the privacy to see what you captured, what the pieces suggest, maybe they exist as separate moments, but maybe there is a larger narrative. Sketch, write, remember; see how jotting down the memory of something that happened as opposed to transcribing it. Wait for the film to be developed.
The Terribly Terrible Awesome Play.
Remember when you acted in your first play in kindergarten — how awful and wonderful it was all at once? This was probably the first time you ever stepped onto a stage in someone else shoes. And you were probably awful. But I bet you loved every minute of it. The sheer craziness of having no idea what you were doing. The play was the thing. This is what we are talking about after all, right? The Play? Playing? How the term ‘player’ got twisted into a negative image is unfortunate. But lets return to the origins of the word — which is movement, to leap, jump. My old acting teacher said that the best thing you could do for yourself as an actor was to direct something. By doing that you are breaking out of the norm, breaking gravity — you are leaping. So do something you are not good at: paint, write, create, shoot, sing, dance, as long as it is not good! Good is the enemy! Be bad and embrace it, like when you were young… but what does bad mean to you? Bad could be great. Or it could just be bad, but it will shed light on something.
A Secret Date with your Inner Mentor.
Who do you revere? Whose work inspires you, motivates you, you guides you internally? If you happened to have a day with them, where would you go? But What areas of your city would you want them to take you to because they could shed new light on something. What areas would you never go if not for their presence? Bring along a book or an interview on them that you can read while you are out on your date. Use their work and your imagination to step in to their shoes. Be inspired but also brought to awareness their humanity. Their journey might not have been so different than yours. (And just as if you were out with a celebrity, tweeting your adventures would not be encouraged).
There are countless creative things you can do to have play dates. One of my favorite finds is ForYourArt.com. An email feed aggregates all the ‘art’ going on in your city that weekend. But being cultured and inspired shouldn’t be a competitive sport that is judged by the number of Instagram likes it has. Fight the desire to have others comment on your experience. Just one time. Easier said than done right? But I’m looking forward to seeing how it feels.
Your private play should be experienced, savored, reflected on. Not judged. And if you have an inkling to share what your private play inner artist dates are here, I’d love to hear them. Or don’t. Either way, keep playing.