Changing the Game Plan

As much as I think that it's a good thing to establish a discipline for ourselves, I think it's also important to allow some flexibility and evolution in our creative work flow in order to keep it fresh.

I was talking to my family the other day about the irony of taking the time to blog about creativity if it eats up all of my productive free time that could be used for creating... and the suggestion that came back was that I should try converting the morning time (which is currently dedicated to writing this blog) to creative work time instead, and make some time at the end of the day to post some thoughts and updates. So starting tomorrow, that's the new game plan and we'll see how it goes...

In the meantime, I did nurture my creative spirit yesterday by attending the Common Threads Quilt Guild show in Ottawa. That was also a change of game plan because I had originally decided that the weekend was pretty busy with other things, and that—much as in the paragraph above—it would be more practical to devote whatever free time I had this weekend to working on existing projects. But when I woke up yesterday, the call of the road was still upon me... so I just jumped in the car and headed off on a little adventure.

The solitary road trip was a good decision; I delighted at the sight of the first trilliums blooming along the roadside, listened to classical music and enjoyed the sunshine and the wind in my hair.

Once I arrived in Ottawa, I wandered the aisles of the show in admiration for the fine and innovative work being done by a large and varied group of talented quilters. I browsed the vendors (with restraint) and came away with just a few treasures, some intended as gifts to others and some as gifts to myself. I also came home with lots of ideas, inspiration and new motivation, as well as the satisfaction and wellbeing that comes from feeding the spirit of creativity. 

Planning and self-discipline are important, but sometimes we have to be willing to change up the game plan and just follow that spirit to get to where we need to be next.