Designingdeb’s Weblog

Okay, let’s face it. Some ideas are okay. Some are good. And some are great. The reality is that great ideas don’t come along all the time but once they have been conceived they grow and take on a life of their own. Yeah, sure, you can put them off for a while and try to ignore them. But they just won’t let you go that easily. Yes, I meant exactly that – THEY won’t let you go.

A great idea tries to be come a part of you, needling and prodding you to nurture it and let it blossom into the idea that it deserves to be. I know. I’ve had one of those ideas and I’ve stuck in a corner, stuffed it in a closet, hidden it on a shelf. Okay, not literally – just figuratively.

But my point is that I’ve tried to hide it away and it just won’t be hidden. It thinks that it deserves to see the light of day. It thinks that it deserves to be welcomed and allowed to grow into a full-fledged project.

So, if it’s so great, why am I ignoring it hoping that it will wither away and dry up into a small pile of insignificant dust to be swept away under the carpet or blown away by the wind like some dandelion? Hmmmm… now that’s an interesting question! The truth is that I just might be a little afraid to take a chance on success. I might not want to leap from a 20-story window without the promise of a safety net below.

What happens if I try and fail? What happens if I try and succeed? Perhaps both ideas scare me equally. And of that’s the case what is a girl to do?

Okay, let me start this with I have a LOT to do. My list of pending projects looks like Santa’s Christmas scroll. I could unroll it and it would bounce happily down the hallway, cascading down the stairs and continue going. I have a lot to do.

The problem? I don’t want to do any of the things that I have to do. I want to do something. I just don’t know what. Should I play a game on my iPad? Should I paint? There are gifts to make and craft shows to get ready for but “I’m not in the mood”.

The reality is that I’m just not inspired. I’m not feeling the creativity sweeping over me, surging through my veins begging to be released. Maybe that’s because I create for a living. Whether I’m designing a project, writing or painting, its all ‘work’. Now don’t get me wrong – I LOVE what I do. I am so lucky to be able to create for a living.

Just sometimes its hard to sustain that. Sometimes its hard to force yourself to sit down and begin the creative process. Once I begin the process takes over and the ideas spill forth like water tumbling from an island waterfall. Its the getting started that’s the hard part.

So I find myself reading everything I can find online. News stories that normally wouldn’t get a second glance become so captivating that I must read them. I have been bitten and infected with a deadly virus…

Procrastination. The enemy of all mankind and especially the creative mind.