Back to the Natural World: Creative project updates and how I stay sane
Being creative as a stay-at-home parent is challenging. The time and energy spent on childcare and housework leaves little left for my own creative projects, and I often have to use my extra time for projects that benefit my children directly, like birthday party planning, sewing for my youngest daughter’s preschool and planning soccer practices for my eldest daughter’s soccer team. There is always something I should be doing, so when I finally have free time, you’d think I use it wisely, right??
The answer to that is, “sometimes I do!” It’s super easy to plop on the couch at the end of the day and scroll until bedtime. To at least make this a less toxic experience, I’ve deleted all social platforms that insight anger and suck out my remaining braincells, which leaves me with Youtube. Youtube is incredible right now! The Youtube Shorts algorithm is perfectly tuned to suit my moods and curiosities while almost completely avoiding propaganda and ads. I’m not sure how I managed that, maybe the folks at Youtube know we want to see content we’re actually subscribed to, who knows! Either way, Youtube makes it easy for me to attempt to focus my attention on long-form videos and learn something when I’m giving myself a brain break from the chaos of parenting two young children.
But what of the time away from a screen that isn’t devoted to dressing, potty-training, cleaning, shopping, cooking, laundering, raising, playing, planning, and caring for my family? For myself, I have discovered that I need a few things to be truly happy these days, and I get the sense that I’m not alone in my choice of escape from the horrors displayed across our screens at all hours of the day. Creating with my hands, consuming literature from a physical book, writing down my thoughts in a memory-keeping journal and exercising are how I choose to fill my “me time.”
Latest Project: Quilted Book Bag
My latest surge of creativity came in the form of a quilted book bag. I made this just after sewing one of my quilted zipper pouches for a friend’s birthday and caught the creative wave to complete a personal project I’ve been planning for a while. The bag is super deep, which was a happy accident that I didn’t really like at first. But when I tested it, I actually prefer that it’s deep instead of wide like my regular purse, which tends to whack people when I’m wearing it in tight spaces. Finishing this one was super fun because I got to use up some fabric scraps that I really liked using previously, but didn’t know what to do with until I concocted this nutty bag. I’m hoping to sew a baby quilt for a friend, a wall hanging for my bedroom and I have to sew placemats and napkins for my daughter’s preschool by the end of the year as well. I’m hoping to catch another sewing inspiration wave soon!
Journaling: To Remember and to Forget
The past year, I’ve been trying to write a journal entry every day to remember what I did that day and track a few health-related things. My journal is a Hobonichi Weeks, and so far, I have been religious about adding my daily entry. Because I’ve actually been consistent, I opted to purchase a Hobonichi Cousin and a Weeks for 2027. I was ready the second they launched to get my hands on the V&A Cousin cover, a beautiful William Morris design that caught my eye immediately when it was announced in September. The beautiful, almost gothic style fits my recent visual aesthetic, in addition to the fact I studied Morris during my college years. His ethos rings even truer now that I’m in the process of homemaking during a time that it is imperative to decorate your house with intention.
“If you want a golden rule that will fit everything, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”
― William Morris
I’m hoping to have more space to write out each day’s activities, how I feel and any creative inspiration I may have, similar to The Artist’s Way morning pages, but I write each evening as a sort of brain dump to sleep better. Purging negative thoughts and creative ideas into my journal in theory will help get them off my mind for a restful night’s sleep. In my Weeks, I will track health and exercise stuff, which will give me more space in my Cousin for freeflow writing. I also purchased a Nolty journal where I will track all the books, movies and TV shows I truly enjoyed consuming. Using journaling as an analogue outlet will help my mental/emotional health, and hopefully keep my scattered mom brain organized.
Books: The Highest Analogue Tech
I’ve been a regular reader for several years, a practice I have returned to after mostly neglecting books in my adventurous 20s. Like most other Millennial fiction/fantasy readers, I cut my teeth on Harry Potter, and while I have yet to read Lord of the Rings, the movies were pretty mind-blowing in my youth. So as an adult during an age known for its dumpster-firiness, fiction and fantasy have been an exhilarating and entertaining break from reality. I have read ACOTAR, yes, but I still need to catch up on many of the popular series worth reading. This past year, I went down a chivalrous knight fantasy-romantasy rabbit hole and I’m not sure when I’ll surface again to be honest. It began with Rachel Gillig’s duologies, The Shephard King and The Stonewater Kingdom. I read The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman, which was an excellent King Arthur retelling and a super fun and fantastical adventure. Then I got ahold of Swordheart by T. Kingfisher and I was sucked into a knight fantasy offshoot and thrown into the World of the Temple of the White Rat. These books, which I later discovered there are many and more on the way, have captivated my attention for the majority of the year. I’m excited to finish reading the last couple books within the White Rat universe, but I’ll definitely be sad I have to wait for the next installments!
Back to Nature
Walking along a river path the other day after dropping off our kids at school, my husband and I came across a giant puffball mushroom. It filled me with so much amazement and glee, I had to stop and ask myself if I get outside enough, which the answer is undoubtedly no. Most of my hobbies are best done inside, which definitely makes me a homebody, but I really do enjoy hiking and camping. I just don’t feel like I enjoy them as much with young children, so I’ve been avoiding the great outdoors as a result. But on this brief river walk, I was able to remember how walking in nature feels when I’m not trying to keep small children alive. It’s freeing and does wonders for my mental health. I currently don’t make time for this endeavor either, but after this walk, I might add it into my exercise repertoire. It was a reminder to stay flexible with the bits of time I stumble into and try new things to fuel my creative endeavors. But it was also a reminder that being intentional with my time is also important. I am going to try to schedule creative time for myself and stick to it as a means of preserving my creativity and sanity on this adventure called parenthood.
