I am a fan of creative challenges. I usually participate in monthly ones as I tend to get bored easily. This year I decided to try to create a daily habit of doodling and challenged myself to add a simple doodle to my planner everyday. You can read about it here.
Well, here it is, the beginning of June and I am done. I got bored and I no longer looked forward to adding in a design everyday. I tried to keep myself from getting antsy with the daily routine by using different pens and giving myself themes for some of the weeks. It worked…until it didn’t.
So why am I sharing with y’all my “failure” to complete the yearly challenge I set for myself? Because, like many of you, I started to get down on myself for not keeping up, for skipping days, for giving up. And that is ridiculous!
We creatives like to let that crazy voice in our heads get the better of us but I have decided to thank that voice for its opinion and stop doodling everyday anyway. I never want to hate making art. To continue to force myself to add marks in my planner when it no longer brings me joy is a crap use of my time and energy.
I have watched so many artists online that are participating in challenges get so upset with missing a day or a week and feel like they are behind. There is no behind, there is only now. If the challenge stresses you, stop. If you miss a day, so what? You are not a failure…I am not a failure! Just pick up where you left off if you are loving the creative challenge. If you don’t love it, find a new challenge that sparks that joy in you and move on.
What new challenge will I find? Who knows, but I look forward to giving myself the permission to try something new and see if it fits. If it doesn’t, then, oh well! Next! I encourage all of you to give yourself permission, too! After all, art is suppose to be our stress relief, not add to it.
Here are a few blog posts about past challenges I have done. Maybe one of them will spark your interest…
