Keep doing what you do
Today I woke up tired. Not an amazing statement on its own, but add that to the mix of being self employed.... well, it can be a dangerous combo. It’s a trap I’ve fallen into before, but unproductive days make me feel worse than being tired and doing the work anyway. I’ve learned to show up and just keep making progress in my studio.We all have excuses as to why we aren’t doing what we want to be doing in the moment, but when you look back over a week, a month or even a year (or years!)... well, we never know why we aren’t just doing the things we wanted to do or at least making them a priority.
Quintessential beautiful decay at Alcatraz. It’s an amazing experience, and I learned so much from the Never Sorry documentary about Ai Weiwei. To see more images, check out my Instagram feed (kathyfrey) or my Facebook biz page.
Since I’ve been getting to know myself better over the last few years, I pretty much knew I’d be tired today after my weekend. Saturday I joined a tour from Nevada City to San Francisco to see @Large, Ai Weiwei’s installation on Alcatraz. Such an amazing adventure, yet it was a lot of humanity (to borrow the phrase from artist friend Sheila Cameron who helped coordinate the whole adventure). I’m an introvert who recharges by being alone. A 15 hour tour was about 8 hours too much overload.Sunday I planned some alone time, but I also had a photoshoot planned with and for my co-collaborator Ginger Lazarus, the magic behind Madame Doktor Belladonna (a personality who also makes fantastic products). This photoshoot jazzed me up, but there’s no way I was running on a full tank after Saturday.
Ginger and I are working together as Cult of Gemini to help others with creative renewal (and we are manifesting a retail space as well), but first we must work on our own presentation! One of our offerings is photography. She is a brilliant stylist (and photo backdrop maker) while I crop and click. We do many things, including make our own products. French Kiss Lip Balm is just one of the many handcrafted items she makes as her alter ego Madame Doktor Belladonna (link takes you to her Etsy shop).
So here I am, tired but heading into the studio anyway. That’s how I want to be and who I want to be. And I’ll be alone with a cup of tea by my side until it’s photoshoot part 2 time this afternoon. Even though I wake up thinking it often, rarely do I look back over my life and think “I wish I’d slept more.” Today is a day for sweeping excuses aside and taking a step towards that goal you have set for yourself.