The Good in Going Away

I have a project to finish today. So, in true artist's form, I am procrastinating by writing a blog entry. I'm choosing to consider this act priming the pump so the other work can flow more easily. We shall see. This has nothing to do with the subject matter of this blog. I just thought you should know what we writers do to avoid actual work. We do other work which could wait, but we'd rather do this work than that work because our brains aren't ready to do that work yet. I've set a timer. Must work on that when the timer goes off. Seriously, I have to. I will. But, first...this. 

I recently returned from a trip to L.A. for two nights of a musical theater workshop. As usually happens when I've had the opportunity to escape my routine for a shot of creative adrenaline, I came back better. A little more clarity. A little more fire in my belly. A little less desire to ever live in California. No offense, CA friends. Just not my vibe. It was good to go and good to come home. 

What I mostly gained from this trip was the realization that I am on the right path. My creative life has shifted in the past few years, partly by my choice, and partly due to the choices of others. For the most part, I'm happy and content with the choices I've made, even if some of them I felt forced into because of health issues. As for the choices of others, well, I can't do anything about that. Sometimes you become a casualty of other people's decisions to pursue their creative lives with other people who can offer something you can't. Sometimes a colleague's life simply shifts and they have to adapt to a new reality that doesn't include you. Sometimes you have to live with the fallout of someone else's creative explosion or implosion. It isn't always personal. It feels personal. But it isn't. Not always. Sometimes it is. Those are tough to deal with. But, to remain trapped in whatever rubble you're buried in after the walls of yesterday's creative pursuits have fallen, would be doing yourself and others a great disservice. Because there is work to be done. Stories to tell. Songs to write. Art to be made. Other artists to encourage. So you dig yourself out and get back to work. 

I used to make certain investments in my creative life in hopes that the return would be measured in connections made, opportunities offered, and eventually reflected in my bank account. (That last one is laughable if you are in my line of creative work.)  These days, if going away for a few days was only to remind me of the importance of making art, then it was well worth the trip. To once again feel the deep conviction that there are places in the heart which can only been reached by the stories we tell and the songs we sing. The fact that I get to be a part of writing and telling those stories and songs is a blessing I do not deserve and a responsibility I do not take lightly. 

And speaking of responsibility, the timer went off. Time to get back to that work. 

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