What to do when you can't do what you love.
A couple of years ago I decided to paint 100 paintings every year. I'm not sure why 100, but I felt like that was the sweet spot between aspirational and achievable. I've recalibrated, and brought down that number to 50 at best. But lately, I've been feeling extremely guilty about not being able to squeeze in painting time in my schedule. I feel like I'm not keeping a promise. I keep feeling crappy because I'm letting someone down, a someone who literally does not exist anymore - two-years-ago-Riddhi.
I wanted to paint, but not for the right reasons. I wanted to keep up that promise and quickly churn out 50 mediocre paintings, which didn't really fill my creative tank, just because I wanted to say I did it.
"I delivered on the goal I took." (Can you tell that I've gone back to work by my choice of words?)
Some introspection later, I've come up with this concept of Alternative Creativity.
Step 1: Think of the top 3 reasons you decided to paint 100 paintings a year
Creating something, anything, is a thrill to me.
Having an engaged audience excites me.
Being an introvert, spending that painting time by myself energises me.
Step 2: Think of 3 alternate doable things that fulfil the same purpose
Writing a snippet about art or creativity every day and publishing it
Doing creative things that don't require the same effort or circumstances - Like cooking, singing, organising (Yes, organising is one - I feel creative when I organise :))
Consuming creative content - especially blogs and podcasts, which spark creative juices to flow and make me itch to create
Step 3: Do these things!
And eventually you might notice that you're so creatively charged, that you end up doing what you set out to do anyway - But for the right reasons this time.
So let's try it :)
See you tomorrow!