An Unhinged Rant about Too Many Projects

When I started this blog in the Spring of 2022, I was a stay-at-home mom who spent many a quiet night and tiny pockets of minutes working on my artwork. I was crazy productive! I created so many new pieces of art; I wrote, illustrated, and self-published a children's book, and I volunteered and participated in a handful of local art organizations. I was writing blog posts like crazy, and publishing them weekly. I even wrote a blog post about what it was like to be an active artist and parent of tiny humans, and you can check it out here!

But nothing in life remains the same, and sudden out-of-left-field life changes are pretty commonplace for me. About a year ago, I took a job working full-time in a town about half an hour away from home. So 45+ hours a week now, I'm busy. Don't get me wrong, I really love my job and am happy to be working! But it doesn't leave me a whole lot of time to fit in EVERYTHING that I want to.

It's not just making art or writing for this blog. It's time with my kids (bedtime alone is a half-hour ordeal every night, and that’s when it goes smoothly!) and let’s not forget spending time with the absolute love of my life, my husband. It's time outside in the garden. It's time spent exercising. It's trying to get enough sleep each night. It's time spent staying in touch with friends/family. It’s time spent working on our house, because I still want to finish painting the basement walls, and it's time being creative - not just painting or drawing, but writing, too. I've got about three more books in the works right now: a third children's picture book, a book of haiku poems, and a fiction novel that has become my new creative obsession. I just... I just want to do ALL THE THINGS!

This. All of this.

I can't possibly be alone in this frustration. Anybody else out there going through the same thing? I mean, I feel like just being a parent of young kids puts you in this boat. Right? RIGHT?

I personally know a number of artists who set aside their creative pursuits to focus on their families and day jobs. When retirement finally arrived, they were able to take the time to pursue what they always wanted to do: make art. And while that’s a viable option, and I personally love when my long-term plans come to fruition… I just can’t wait that long, and life is short anyway.

The past few years my technique was to sacrifice my sleep. In exchange, I have permanent dark circles under my eyes and I drink strong coffee (with creamer, I’m not that hardcore.) It worked better when I could take a nap with my babies. But they are older now, and I’m not the parent at home all day anymore.

I do still try to fit my creative pursuits into the tiny spaces I find during the week. I usually have 15-30 extra minutes on my lunch break. Sometimes, I’ll take a walk around town. But more often I can be found with headphones on and some sort of notebook or sketchbook. I usually have to set a timer for myself, lest I get lost in the creative process and forget to go back to work! I’ll set an alarm to get up early every other Tuesday so I can publish my blog posts before I go to work. I make the time, here and there, when I can.

I’m certainly not quitting, if that thought crossed your mind! Absolutely not! I love this blog, and I love painting, drawing, and writing. I love volunteering and going to art events. I love my family, and I love my friends. I love my job. I just need to find my balance between everything, to fit it all in, because I still want to do all the things and I don’t want to wait, I want to do them now. Or at least as soon as possible, because as the saying goes: Rome wasn’t built in a day.