Day 9: Imagine you are on a long holiday in Portugal (or wherever your dream destination is). There are castles to explore, secret bars to discover, and sunny beaches to laze around on. In today’s post, I want you to write about how you will balance your adventure and work while you are away on this holiday. – Natalie Sisson, The Suitcase Entrepreneur, 10 Day Blog Challenge 2016
Last year, I read a book called Momo by Michael Ende. He is also the author of the wildly famous Never Ending Story (lord knows how many times I watched this as a kid!) and I was surprised that I hadn’t heard of Momo before. It’s now my favourite book of all time. The Never Ending Story is about imagination and the importance of keeping it alive. Momo’s central theme is Time. It totally changed the way I looked at life – I began to think of Time as currency. I thought longer about how I spent it and how I shared it: how much was spent with people and how much was spent alone? How much was spent working and how much was spent playing? What work would I spend more time on? How much time was spent in the city and how much out in nature?
As I marinated in this challenge, I thought about times when the line between my play and work disappeared. The picture with this post is an example of this. Unplugged holiday time by the sea.
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” ― Anne Lamott
Love recharging in nature. Learning from its stillness, nowness and not-wanting-to-be-anything-else-ness. And my sketchbook, the tool of my trade, comes holidaying too. In this way, I’m keeping up my personal practice and can spend devoted time on my craft – outside of my city life. I’m constantly thinking about how to balance adventure and playtime with work and it’s hitting home that I can’t do one well without the other. Rest, play and unplugged stillness are essential for the writing and drawing work I do.
In terms of maintenance and upkeep, I use my sketchbook as an inspiration container, my phone to record the moment in pictures and my laptop for when I’m sparked into writing and for storing drafts of me putting things together. These three things form my basic toolkit and I’m always on the look out for the apps that help me manage better and work more effectively. Last year, I began working with an assistant too. She’s fantastic and now knows more about me and my creative business. She’s supportive and keeps tabs on what I need done and by when. She provides an extra pair of eyes and extra pair of hands. And tonnes of useful suggestions. She also helps me with my emails and keeping tracks of finances. She helps me focus on my work in whatever way she can. No cape. But basically superwoman. Ask for help. Take the help. Two things I’m learning and loving to keep life and work humming beautifully.
That said, there are always days where there is simply too much to do. And this is another reason I like to learn form trees and flowers and waves. They’re, as my hero, Eckhart Tolle, says: “Surrendered to life.” I can’t do it all, but I can take a step each day – very much like this challenge!
Signing off from challenge 9 with a poem. An oldie but a goodie. It came to me as I wrote this.
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this is if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
– William Henry Davies
This is day 9. If you found this useful, do come back again for my response to Challenge 10. Best wishes for a good week ahead friends, back soon, DMK x This blog post is in response to Natalie’s 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 9
Previous 10 Day Blog Challenge Posts
Day 1: DMK’s Challenges Click here or on the pic above
Day 2: DMK’s Why Click here or on the pic above
Day 3: DMK’s Perfect Day Click here or on the pic above
Day 4: DMK’s Superpowers Click here or on the pic above
Day 5: DMK’s Daily Success Plan Click here or on the pic above
Day 6: DMK’s Tribe Click here or on the pic above
Day 7: DMK’s One, Imperfect Action Click here or on the pic above
Day 8: DMK’s Adventure Click here or on the pic above
Hi, I’m Divya and I champion the arts for speaking a universal language that inspires and influences change. I share drawing as a way to keep moving forward with purpose and presence and recently married my best friend. We live in Tokyo, Japan. Best way to keep in touch is here on Instagram:
divyamariekato
Divya Marie Kato | “When in doubt, draw”
