Happy Sunday! Happy Easter! Happy Palm Sunday…happy, happy, happy!
Some of you may be partaking in church services, others a family gathering or brunch at a favorite restaurant, maybe some egg hunts. Me? I have been enjoying basking in the lovely springtime sunshine complete with cool breeze enveloping it. Mmm, mmm, mmm. It is truly a lovely day. If you haven’t been outside and you’re here in southwest Florida, you really don’t know what you’re missing.
But I’m here right now for another important reason: responding to this week’s Kuhnspiration challenge. Earlier in the week, I posed a very serious question – What “something new” will you explore this spring – a new hobby, a new healthy habit, a new creation of some kind? What beautiful new thing or experience will bloom in your life this season?
Did you get a chance to contemplate? Contemplation is good. Action’s even better.
So… here’s what I’ve got in store this spring after some careful thought and listening to my heart. Sometimes I can be a little tone deaf, but this time, I’m hearing it loud and clear.
I’ve been tiptoeing around a subject in my life for a while now: my personal writing. I do plenty of writing for everyone else – articles, web content, blogs, professional bios, press releases, the occasional essay. But I continue to put aside my own writing even though I have technically scheduled it into my planner weekly for a few months now. Hmm.
Sometimes overbooking myself? Sure.
Finding myself frequently with smaller windows of creativity than expected and replacing “book work” during that shorter timeframe with smaller projects instead? Yep.
But is it something more rooted? Perhaps at this very moment in my life, writing that book isn’t really calling to me as much as I thought it was, because if it truly were, wouldn’t I be doing it every possible free moment? So am I overbooked because I’m overbooked or am I overbooked so I don’t have the time to work on “the” book and face this realization?
I have decided that I need to stop and listen to what I really want to write, not what I think I should write. At least, at this moment. And that may change a few months or a year down the road. But what I’ve been really in the mood to write lately is…songs. And poems. For whatever reason, this is what I’ve been compelled to stop work to do. I’ll be working on a project, hit a bump, stop in my tracks and shift gears. Voila! The next 90 minutes is spent writing a song. Yes, it may postpone continuing the other work, but I return to that client project much more refueled, recharged and creative. There are a few snags with this strategy though.
1. Can’t write music.
2. Can’t read music.
3. Can’t PLAY music.
But lyrics? I can write. And music? I can hum. (Now if only I could find a Burt Bacharach to partner with this fledgeling Hal David…)
So this spring, I am going to continue on this creative trail I’m forging and build a songbook (as I have been informally doing all along). I don’t know if it will ever see the light of day, but I have a story I seem to be telling and you never know? If I were to someday knock off those other two related things on my bucket list – learn how to play guitar and learn how to read/write music – maybe I’ll even be able to play them one day.
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So what is music to your ears when you think about springtime and all that you’ll do? Have you come up with your one or even a couple adventures that you plan to take this spring – unfamiliar territory maybe, but something that you know you are truly inspired and passionate about doing, trying or making?
Shower us here with your plans and let us send positive thoughts your way to inspire you to take the initiative and get moving along! And I too will welcome your friendly encouragement and good vibes…
Cheers to finding that daily spark in your life!
Chris
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