About once a year, particularly as Christmas begins to draw closer, I see something with which I’m never quite sure how to respond. I know that the people who post it on social media are doing so with their hearts exactly in the right place—but I can’t help but feel like the sentiment is missing some pieces.
It’s cliché in probably every way possible, but one of the best ways to inspire new work is to step away from the work in front of you. If, like me, you lean (heavily) toward being the task-oriented sort, that can be difficult. Compared to busy work that often requires little creative thought and simply more doing, it can seem counterintuitive that walking away from your work will inspire you to do more and better work.
When I was a little girl, my mom liked to carve out time between her full-time job and the busyness of day-to-day life to sew dresses for me. If I had a preference, she’d let me pick out the fabric or pattern. One dress in particular, she let me pick the fabric—and I picked something that looked like it might not go together well. She asked if I was sure, but I was.