Epic Blog Fail

As school started in August, I thought to myself, “a structured routine will be nice.  I will have so much time to write, organize, cook, etc.”  Well, that was a lie.  I completely lost control over my personal time, kids’ schedules, and work/school/sports all rolled into nightly chaos and endless running and homework.   

I love routines, schedules, to-do list, etc.  Anything that helps with predictable and productivity.   When school started and August and September flew by, I found myself at Halloween trying to remember how excited I was to for the kids to go back to school.  It seems that by going to back to school, time flies by quicker, that our lives then fill-up even more with activities, birthday parties, Sunday afternoon football games, and the list can go on and on.

So my commitment to myself and to my blog got buried under life and school/child activities.  I see how easy that was to do and to let that time slip away.  I think that everyone deserves time to themselves.  That some people need it to re-charge or compress from daily events or activities.  This is much easier said than done. 

If I don’t take time for myself, then I become cranky, frustrated, and stagnant.  Creative comes to a complete stop and I feel buried in endless piles of laundry, school activities, cooking, and house chores.  I know that I can’t be the only one who does this or feels this way. 

One thing I recently did was buy a sketch book.  I really suck of drawling but I like to sketch out charts/graphs/data images and other visual ideas that come to mind at work and at home.  I think about how I can take numbers and/or words and make them more engaging or meaningful to others.  I also write down story ideas, home décor ideas, crafts, etc. in the book.  I feel better after I sketch out an image and it helps me express creativity.  This gives me a little “me” time in that I am getting to be creative or inventive. 

Pinterest also provides a lot of room for idea seeking, creativity, and inspiration in regards to pretty much everything.  The key is not to assume that you can replicate anything and everything on Pinterest.  That is just plain silly.  Nothing I have ever made or crafted looked as perfect as it did on Pinterest however, if it is purposeful, I liked the process, and I was able to be creative in my own way, I think that it was a success. 

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I also find inspiration and creativity from certain books and magazines.  Realistic crafts, projects, recipes, etc. that I can purchase all supplies and food items locally and know that my family will like and/or use makes me feel good.  If I find a picture that I find very inspiring or I am happy when I look at it, I put it on a bulletin board in my bedroom.  Even if I just like the color of something, I will save that picture or tear that page out of a magazine.  I also take random pictures of houses, food, parks, trees, pretty much anything that strikes me as colorfully interesting. 

Where do you find inspiration?  Feel free to share!  How do you carve out time for you? 

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