Many years ago I started to practice yoga, determined to make it part of my daily routine. I started REALLY small with a single sun salutation. I knew that I could fit this into my day without too much compromise. Have you noticed that if you try to carve out an hour for a workout/walk/painting (add in your own unique goal here) sometimes life gets in the way.

So what do we do?

We tell ourselves that if we cannot do the whole hour we may as well not try to do anything! This negative thinking has such power over our wellbeing.

As I found with my yoga, tiny changes in behaviour can have a long term massive impact in your life. Looking back to when I started and where I am now – the benefits have been incredible and I know have a regular daily yoga practice. If I have to miss a session or do a shorter practice…. THAT IS OK! I know it is just a short term thing as I have now found the main habit! If you are a fan of a good book, then take a look at Atomic Habits by James Clear as he digs into the psychology and neuroscience to explain why this works.

Giving yourself permission to paint, or not to paint

January is always a busy time for me and this year it was especially busy as we spent the festive period and first 2 weeks of January in New Zealand. If you haven't been I can tell you that this country is breath taking! Amazing scenery and the people are wonderful. As always, I packed my art supplies travel kit and a journal. On all previous trips I have carried a pocket of guilt if I did not get my art supplies out daily but for this trip, I wanted make sure, as a family, we were living our best life and enjoying our time together.

I still took comfort in knowing that I have my journal and supplies with me when I felt that creative yearning, but I did not feel pressure to create and it was so freeing.

Over the month I took my journal out on the plane and spent a bit of time creating some collage, there were a handful of other visits to my journal but that was it.

It is important that we not only find the time to create our mixed media art pieces as a way to relax and unwind, it is also vital that we take time to pause without guilt.

I have come back to my studio refreshed and finding that my energy levels have returned.

In the video below I share with you my simple art supplies travel kit and how little I actually created while I was away.

 Volcano trekking in New Zealand

While we were in New Zealand we spent 2 days trekking on an active volcano. The volcano was 1900m (approx. 6235 feet) over very harsh terrain and it was AMAZING! Well, I thought it was amazing. My kids had very different experiences: Lucas my eldest did not like it but did it, Meya loved the challenge and was very proud in the end, Max is young and hated parts and loved parts. The thing with kids is that they really live more in the moment.

As we trekked and looked back at the distance we covered it was really evident that many small steps take you a long way and you can do more than you think. 

Learning to let go of stress

We all lead such time pressured lives but it is important not to stress about not having time to create. The more we do, we procrastinate, feel guilty and that reflects in our work and the joy it brings. Don't let art making give you a bad conscience. 

I hope that this has inspired you to realise that the small steps you are making are taking you in the right direction. It is far more important to small steps gradually, then attempting big steps that can lead to emotion burnout.

Enjoy those moments and remember that this is for you, it is your little habit to enhance your wellbeing.