remember yourself

my nook

School has been very stressful lately.  S-T-R-E-S-S-F-U-L.  When all of my time seems dictated by meetings, appointments, grading, committee work, etc. I often forget to take care of myself.  Unless Mark puts a sandwich in front of me, I forget to eat.  I make my tea for the day in the morning and forget in on the shelf at home.  Yoga, studio, reading books, all of the things I love to do that define my happiness, fall to the wayside.  I am trying to remember, amidst all of the stress, to live with more intentionality, to summon the energy to do these things instead of functioning on autopilot.  Yesterday was great for that.  I got my grading done during the day, and thus was able to spend my afternoon and evening cleaning up the house from a week’s worth of neglect, and was able to draw and listen to music for the whole night.  Man, it rocked.  You know it’s a good studio experience you find yourself drawing in silence with headphones still in your ears, long after the music has stopped, and you didn’t even notice.  This morning, I jumped out of bed and ran straight into house studio to check on last night’s work.  I love that feeling!

unicorn girl drawing in progress

unicorn girl drawing in progress for The Beautiful Ones series

"the fates" drawing in progress for Afterlife series

"the fates" drawing in progress for Afterlife series

I’d love to hear the things you do to “remember yourself.”

Posted November 22nd, 2009 in Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .

3 comments:

  1. Abbigail:

    I love those new drawings. Really beautiful. I have to find myself with some time alone outside or in my studio. These past few weeks I have been feeling sick and everything has fallen apart. My house, studio work, and child suffer from neglect. I am anxious to get back to it all.

  2. lauren:

    remember yo’self, sort of the opposite of “check yo’self”!

  3. amy:

    Thanks Abbi. Congrats on your little peanut! Whenever I’m feeling like I can’t get to the things that need getting to, the words from Ecclesiastes run through my head (in the voices of Simon and Garfunkel, since they brought these lines into my consciousness): To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose, under heaven… Being sick is no fun, but it will pass soon, and then you’ll be able to tend to the things that need tending.

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