art practice

Find the time to create, practice, and pursue the craft that brings you joy.

Illustrator Christoph Niemann, in the Netflix documentary series Abstract: The Art of Design, discusses the importance of giving space for your creations to exist. He sits at his desk every day regardless of how much time he spends illustrating, and by doing so, he enables his illustrations.

While I won’t be spending 40 hours of my week sitting at my desk, I do want to spend more time allowing myself to write. To dedicate time to cultivating the environment so that I will write and to value that time whether or not I actually do.

As with anything, there are seasons to our creations. Times where it comes more easily and times where it feels impossible.

Recently, I am acknowledging that I have stopped writing because I feel frozen in fear. Scared to create because I know I have so much more to learn. I am stuck, believing that I’m not ready to share my writing.

There’s nothing wrong with taking the time to research, learn, and discover more perspectives, but when it starts to cost you creation, it’s time to reevaluate.

The desire to ensure that my writing represents my capabilities and potential is the same desire that stifles it. I allow myself to freeze in the space of wondering what I don’t know and pursuing knowledge at the cost of sharing this part of my evolution.

We cannot become excellent at anything without practice.

We must make mistakes to learn. We must keep trying and trying so that we can, ultimately, improve.

There will always be things I don’t know. There will always be inquiry and curiosity; that can be a source of wonderment and inspiration instead of the origin of fear.

Today I am choosing to create, to practice. To write knowing that I am, and will always be, evolving. I am writing to share this part of my journey because we need to see how far we have come to know where we have yet to go.

Build the foundation of your dreams through the art of practice.

Give yourself the space to create so that you can make mistakes. Prioritize your time and energy into allowing.

Practice isn’t easy; it’s a commitment to showing up regardless of the outcome.

Take the time to practice. To write and to create. To pursue the activity that lights a fire in your spirit.

Know that you won’t always produce a masterpiece. Instead, find the freedom in continuing; know that that commitment is the ultimate realization of your dreams.

With practice, you can and will aspire to achieve them.