Finding the Time and Place for Nurturing Youself

It’s been a busy week for me. I know that I end up saying that most weeks, but this week was busier than most at my day job. I had a class to teach and a lot of busy work to get done. I’m three days from being able to claim I wrote a poem a day, every day, for NaPoWriMo. Not all stress is bad stress! By yesterday I was almost completely burned out on day job and really needing to find a way to center myself and get my muse back on.
I took a longish lunch (who knew longish was really a word!) and went to a local indie bookstore that is always good to spend time in and soak up the atmosphere. I rarely buy any books there, sometimes one of the eclectic journals to write in, sometimes an artsy fartsy pen, but the books I end up promising myself for later.
The floors are well worn wood. The shelves are randomly placed. The stairs to the second floor are wide and winding and the tread shows the marks of thousands upon thousands of visitors. There are backpacks (locally made) and gypsy skirts hanging, cases of local artist art work and Buddhist and Hindu statues. And the incense that fills the air adds to the feel. The ambiance of the place is as much what I go for. And it works. It never fails to help me find the place in myself where I can be still and connect with myself and remember why I am who I am. Why I write. It quietly calls to my muse.
This is how I find the time to connect with myself.
What is yours? Find the place, your back yard, a park, a flower garden or beside some running water, where you can connect with yourself. Somewhere that you can go (even a somewhere within yourself if you can find the stolen time to go there) that can replenish your soul. I know that, as writers we are supposed to be able to take all of those stolen moments and use them productively to write. This is especially true when we are busy writers with other busy lives. Nurture yourself and your writing will show the results.
But sometimes the most productive thing you can do for yourself is find that place and go there to nurture yourself. Sometimes, it can be a place where you escape to do your writing. When that is the case, it is the best of both worlds. But when you can’t use it as your writing space, escape there whenever the need arises. Capture the look and feel. Take pictures or video. We all have phones with us all the time; why not make use of it? Use the pictures on your vision board or your computer as a gentle reminder.
Be gentle with yourself, fair writer, and do whatever it takes to keep yourself on this wonderfully, sometimes stressful, magical road we find yourselves walking together!