Ah July. Ah the dog days of summer. For July, I decided to focus on creativity – specifically creativity for how I manage my time and myself (and that horrible summertime heat)!
At the beginning of the month, I wrote:
“I’m jumping into a summer routine that I’ve never had before. I was nervous and excited and jittery. I could either let those emotions control me, or I could find creative ways to manage myself.
In July, I hope to find creative ideas and solutions not just for camp, but for my own personal well-being. If I can live each day with eyes for possibility, then I will have lived into my Essence.”
I could have very easily let my internal world flip upside down as much as my external world was. I had a choice. And I chose creativity. I found ways to stay connected to the people and things that ground me.
Even if I didn’t have time to go for a quiet Sunday morning run accompanied by my podcasts and my favorite park in Manhattan, I could still volunteer to take the early bird campers for a morning hike at whatever state I was currently living in.
Even if I didn’t have my stable desk in my New York City apartment to work from with all my notebooks and organizational tools within reach, I could still find a quiet corner of the camp room with an outlet to set up shop for a couple hours.
It is the end of July and I have successfully made it through three summer camps. They have taught me patience, understanding, inspiration, improvisation and so much more. This month, they also taught me about myself.
So much of this year has been about self-reflection – thinking about the decisions I’ve made that have led me to where I am and thinking about who I want to be going forward. This month I learned how creativity dances with that.
We won’t always be gifted the perfect circumstances for our careers or our relationships or our lives. And that’s okay. There is always another angle to approach problems from and there are infinite ways to find joy in our work.
Love always,
Liz
