creativity & joy

I realized something the other day while talking with my husband.

I don’t have a hobby. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love my work and I am so grateful that I get to use my creativity in my business. But the truth is, I’m not creating all day every day. I am not drawing illustrations for a wedding suite or breaking out my calligraphy pen and ink to do some concepts for a logo or quote for my Instagram all throughout a business day. My days often consist of answering emails, keeping on top of accounting, planning social media content, or working on my website, packaging orders and more.

Growing up, art was always my hobby. I created art because I enjoyed the process and felt immense joy when I completed a piece. As a creative business owner, I still feel that joy when finishing a project, but I don’t always have 100% creative freedom. In fact, having complete creative freedom is quite rare for me. To create something just for the sake of creating, with nobody else’s opinion involved but mine, (or without configuring a way to monetize a design, deciding which calligraphed quote will generate the most traffic on Pinterest, etc.), seemed crazy! Why would I create without any purpose behind it?

I’ve been working on having more balance between work & life recently and decided my word for the year is eunoia.

(n.) beautiful thinking, a well mind.

I’ve focused on taking time to appreciate the beautiful little moments in everyday life so that I can feel more balanced and have a well mind. With that, I’ve come to realize that maybe I need to separate my creativity into two types – work & hobby. This separation has been a struggle, to say the least! I know my work doesn’t always feel like “work” and I truly love each part of my business, but this makes it so hard to differentiate between the two and balance them! So, how will I do that?!

When I first started calligraphy, I found that once I got into the flow of writing the words and sentences, a calming effect came over me. I was no longer criticizing minute details, instead I let the words flow from my pen and truly felt calm and at peace. This is a feeling that I am going to get back to being in touch with. Each day I’m going to sit down with my pen and ink, put on my playlist and write. Whatever words or names come to mind, maybe I’ll print out a quote, some lyrics or even a short story to work on. All with the intention of being in the moment, feeling relaxed in a self-judgment-free zone, and bringing me the joy that I’ve longed for since art was my hobby, not my job. 

So, I guess what I ask of you is to tap into your creativity today, in any way you can, no matter how small. Creativity isn’t always painting or art. Dance like crazy in your living room, sing along to a song on your playlist and make up the words as you go along, go for a walk and take photos of nature. Anyone can be creative, you just have to take the pressure off of yourself and make sure that whatever it is you choose to do, you do it to create joy for yourself! How are you going to be creative today?