Updated: March 18, 20020
My art is still only a part-time endeavor. For the past two or three years I have been making the time to create. Squeezing in shooting between work, family engagements, and my volunteer commitments. As such, it all too often is the part of my life that gets short changed. Compounding the competition for my time is STRESS.

Stress not only impacts me mentally and physically, it zaps my creativity and sucks motivation from me.

Some artists have described their need to create as being akin to the need to breathe. For me, creativity comes from a place of peace and quiet within my mind and spirit. When my mind is dealing with the events of life (global pandemic, loss of a job, aging parents, schedule conflicts, children doing exciting and risky things, unexpected death of a family member, and the list goes on), getting out an shooting feels like too much work. And when I do force myself to shoulder my camera bag and set off out the door, I usually return frustrated. I cannot find compositions, or no matter how hard I worked it, I just couldn't get it right.

So my assessment is that my natural creative state is one develops from calm and oneness with the world around me. Other artists are driven to create from a place a pain or darkness. My art comes from lightness and peace.

I tell myself excuses in an attempt to apply a balm to the painful wound. “When I'm full-time, I won’t have so many things competing for my time.” “This is an unusual stretch of life and once it passes, my creative juices will flow free once more.”

The truth that I am coming to realize is that if my art is suffering, all of me is suffering. I must find ways to heal and care for my mind, body, and soul so that I can be the whole person that my family, friends, and all who depend on me need me to be. In doing so, there is a pretty good chance that my muse will return and my art will come back to life.

I share my story in hopes that others may benefit. We all have painful, stressful, things in our lives. It is how we deal with it that makes the difference. The best thing for me when I’m stressed or feeling blue, is to get out and take a walk in a natural space. I’m blessed to live in a community with wild spaces just steps from my backdoor.

My assignment therefore is to take another walk in the woods today. I will leave the camera behind and look to shed a little stress with each step, focusing on being fully present in a place of natural beauty and calm. Thankfully, a walk in the woods is also a good way to avoid spreading the virus. Social distancing does not have to mean being cloistered in your home.