Take Your (Creative) Life One Day At A Time
My Key Takeaway From Austin Kleon's Keep Going
Author Note:
I am going on a break from 31st July (Sun) to 15th August (Mon). I need to rest and recharge my creative batteries before I jump into the August cohort of Ship 30 for 30.
You can read about it, in detail, here.
One mistake I made as a beginner writer was obsessing over when I would reach the final, finished product.
It took me 5 years to realise that being a writer is not about the finished novel but the consistent and persistent act of writing it.
I can't even predict what will happen to me this week. So how can I know when I'll have the finished novel in my hand?
It is okay to have a due date if it motivates you to take action. But in my case, having a deadline felt like a sword hovering over my head. I felt like Ned Stark, knowing the sword would fall on my neck any time.
Deadlines froze me still instead of firing up my engine into motion.
So what was the next best option to boost me into action? I found my answer in a hymn.
I'm only human, I'm just a woman
Help me believe in what I could be
And all that I am
Show me the stairway, I have to climb
Lord for my sake, teach me to take
One day at a time
One day at a time sweet Jesus
That's all I'm asking of You
Just give me the strength
To do everyday what I have to do
Yesterday's gone sweet Jesus
And tomorrow may never be mine
Lord help me today, show me the way
One day at a time
That's all I have to do - take it one day at a time.
The chapter called Take One Day At A Time in Austin Kleon's Keep Going gives me the reason why I should just focus on today -
Other than death, there is no finish line or retirement for the creative person.
For a genuine creative person, having one successful novel, painting, dance routine, or movie is not the end. We never really "arrive." If we are indeed the creative we say we are, we will always be creating art, no matter the results.
And to do that, all we need to do is take it one day at a time.
Yesterday's over, tomorrow may never come, there's just today and what you can do with it.
- Austin Kleon
(I will highly recommend reading Keep Going by Austin Kleon.)
