Working Around Obstacles

My days are shorter than they used to be  Instead of long productive and leisurely hours, I now work within chunks of time between foot flares.  After the first chunk, I take meds for pain, then rest til they take effect.  Then there's another chunk and on and on like that.

Most of us have something to work around--pain, illness, care taking, a job, a marriage.  Obstacles are obstacles.  It's the stuff of literature.  It's whatever the answer is to the question, "What's stopping you?"

What I'm learning in my oldish age is to ask different questions.  Like : How can I get the most out of my short days?  

One answer is to reserve the first chunk of the day for what lights up the creative part of me, the same thing that has animated my whole life--making something, being creative and curious. It's an extended version of what Julia Cameron advocated: "the artist date." A day set aside to poke around in thrift shops or art venues or whatever you do best solo. 

Sometimes the question itself is what drives me.  I'm determined not to stop.

It seems to be a matter of appropriating time differently.  Decide what can best be accomplished in the easy hours, throw myself into whatever requires sustained attention and hold off answering the phone or shopping for groceries.  Say "no" to anything I don't really want or need to do, at least until the time is right to say "yes." 

2024, while filled with lots of good things, was also the year of discovering expensive and extensive dental needs, brought on by taking Gabapentin for pain.  2024 was the year of a terrible election result and all that could entail for the next four years.  

Some things we can do nothing about, period.

In the meanwhile, in my staccato time, I'm delving deep into book making, finding pleasure in cutting and assembling papers to create fun structures.  

Yesterday I made a tiny book (out of a soap box) about Luci.  Earlier I made several books of poems on paper folded into origami shapes.  I'm working today on an accordion book, collaging every page.

Whatever we have to step over or around, I believe that having a personal passion, creative or otherwise, is what keeps us as fully alive as we can be, for as long as we can.