Creatively thriving in a routine.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve seen so many posts from people on Instagram declaring that they are binging on Netflix, eating unhealthy snacks, and shifting between day and night pajamas.

But for so many artists, creativity is found in routine, structure, and discipline… after all, if my home is a mess I feel creatively blocked.

So whilst many people are declaring that quarantine is their time to lose all sense of routine, it’s okay if you still NEED yours to function and show up creatively.

If you follow me on Instagram, you will see some of my stories where I share a fun ‘before and after’ of my mundane daily tasks; picking up the floor, ironing, prepping healthy food for myself and my family and photos some of the daily habits that are helping me to thrive.

I used to hide these aspects of my life, I was so embarrassed that my days were repetitive, spent making beds, doing laundry, cooking, going on school runs and working with any little time I had left.

You see, so much of what we see online is targeted towards the ‘Girl Boss’ and modern woman who MUST conquer the whole world because it’s available. Many of my own lifelines were seen as ‘old fashioned’ and I hid them because surely the man in my life should be doing 50% of the work too?

Well, that’s not my life. And, friend, I’m proud of the life I get to live.

Because for so many years simply getting out of bed each day was hard. I’d spent so many years visiting doctors being told there was nothing wrong with me, and I’d sit there willing myself to deep breathe... silently praying for my life back.

I’m now learning to be less embarrassed about sharing the fact that these mundane daily chores have become an integral part of my healing process and my creative one too.

These tasks have been the guide ropes that have helped me to come through so much pain and perhaps they can help you too. 

My daily routine has allowed me to have a structure, an order, a system in place on the bad days, a calm in the chaos that allows me the freedom to carve out the headspace I need to create and to be creative… which is where the real healing lies.

So it’s OK if during this chapter you continue to stick to your routines, it’s OK to get dressed and to eat the food you know that nourishes your body and to do the things that keep you on track and help you to feel more like you.

It’s okay to live YOUR life and create your own definitions.