“I’ve seen women insist on cleaning everything in the house before they could sit down to write… and you know it’s a funny thing about housecleaning… it never comes to an end. Perfect way to stop a woman. A woman must be careful to not allow over-responsibility (or over-respectabilty) to steal her necessary creative rests, riffs, and raptures. She simply must put her foot down and say no to half of what she believes she “should” be doing. Art is not meant to be created in stolen moments only.” – Clarissa Pinkola Estés
This is so very true – HOWEVER – do not let the fact that you are stealing moments stop you either. Art shouldn’t be created in stolen moments – but of course it is, and likely, always will be. In a perfect world, we would not consider the theft of time the only way to do something that nourishes the soul. We would have time set carefully aside – no – blocked off in gigantic letters and highlighted in neon colors. Time that would be ONLY for ART. And we would feel so artistic during this time that we would create AMAZING things that our friends and family would all behold and say, “Oh, yes – this is why we never disturb her during her special Art Block.”
But, welcome to the real world. If you want to write – find the time and steal it back. Yes, it might be at 5 a.m. or maybe it’s somewhere between dropping a child off at school and running to an appointment. These are your precious stolen moments. Grab ’em up.
But ALSO look for those special blocks of time that you might otherwise give to a volunteer project or to the laundry. Use that neon highlighter and BLOCK IT OFF. I used to do this with great intention — and it worked. I knew I had two hours a week to write – and like clockwork – I showed up, butt in chair – and I wrote for a good forty-five minutes of that two hour block. I needed the whole two hours though – to simmer – to think – to daydream – and to write. In the past few years, I’ve allowed that time slot to evaporate – which was a HUGE mistake on my part. I’m taking it back. But, in the meantime, I’m stealing my moments wherever I see them.
In all honesty, I’ve never really allowed the mundane housework stuff stop me too often. Dishes will wait. Laundry will pile. Crumbs on the floor build character, and if your child eats one, all the better. According to WebMD (a trusted and valued source of backing up my thoughts on this topic) “the young immune system is strengthened by exposure to everyday germs so that it can learn, adapt, and regulate itself, notes Thom McDade, PhD, associate professor and director of the Laboratory for Human Biology Research at Northwestern University.”
So, really, you’re not only stealing moments to create your art – you are helping prevent any number of childhood illnesses. You’re welcome.
Prompt for today: Think about the cleanest house you were ever in as a child (or adult if your want – it’s your prompt). Describe that space and the person(s) who kept it clean. How did it make you feel? Now imagine something terribly messy happening in that place and the reaction of everyone involved.
As a kid, I wanted to be my friend Debbie. She was an only child (all that attention, no sharing, nobody following you around–perfect!) and I’m pretty sure her mom was the inspiration for June Cleaver. The house was tiny but always sparkly clean. 🙂
She needs to be in a book somewhere– I had a friend who had a sparkling clean house too — also an only child. She wanted to be at my house with the craziness of pets, my brothers, etc. & I wanted the peace & quiet of her house! Grin.