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| https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/star-wanders-too-close-to-a-black-hole |
The Black Hole Where My Creativity Went: What I'm Doing While My Creativity Remains Low
After the election, I have to be honest, my creativity has drastically waned. It's difficult to find the spark to create when there's so much to worry over, and so much negativityon display. I know the answer to the problem here is the opposite of giving up, but I cannot "fake it" either.
Instead, I've given myself other important tasks to do, as a foundation for being a better creative person, once I have the internal strength and drive to create on a larger level again.
Personal Finance
First thing I'm focusing on is my personal finances. They were a wreck from neglect, and student loans, and still trying to recover from 5 years of multiple part-time job to make ends meed during the Recession. However, I am very fortunate. I have a full-time job with good benefits. And I am good at taking chaos and bringing order to it--and as of Sept 2016, my finances were the epitome of chaos. Resources I'm using for help with this are: Nerd Wallet, my new credit union, DCU (gotta love a bank with a .org URL) , Michelle Singletary, Suze Orman, and Kate Northrup. The biggest resource though, is reading the fine print everywhere and keeping track of paperwork. Thanks to that, my loans are back on track, consolidated and in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, meaning after ten years in the non-profit sector, the loans are forgiven and the debt is gone. Wow, right? In the meantime, I am on the Income-Based Repayment Program, so I only pay a certain percentage of my income each year. And as I take advantage of 403b investment (public sector equivalent to 401k) and Flexible Spending Accounts for medical expenses, my declared income won't rise much, because I'm just going to stay at this income level for a few years to come. Bullet Journaling
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| A Weekly Spread in my Bullet Journal |
Additionally, I have started to use the Bullet Journaling method of staying organized. I love it because it combines my love of organization with my creative side. You can keep your bullet journal really simple, or you can make it quite beautiful. Taking the time at the start of each month, week and day to set goals, write down appointments and review To Do lists has helped me accomplish a lot more than I used to, and saved time in the end. For whatever reason, the haptic experience of an analog organizer helps me retain and keep track of what I want to do, more than any digital organizer I've attempted in the past. My favorite resource for bullet journaling ideas is Boho Berry AKA Kara Benz, but Pinterest and Instagram have great posts. As ever, because I'm a bargain hunter, I don't get into the fancy notebooks and pens. I stick to a mini composition notebooks, Pilot pens, and highlighters, plus whatever fun clearance items at the craft store I find and gems from the dollar stores.
Instagramming
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| Posing with a portrait of Hillary in Alumni Hall at Wellesley College before seeing a play there |
For whatever reason, my Instagram timeline is curated so that I see mostly things that make me happy: pretty make up ideas from people like Laura Henney, thrillingly flashy plus size outfits from women like Georgina Horne, and all my friends and family their cute kids and dogs and interesting literary pursuits. So I post there pretty much every day, if not more.
And that's how I've cocooned myself during this time, until I feel ready to break free from chrysalis mode and make more butterfly magic again.