WEEK THREE ANXIETY

Fortunately I can say that the anxious feelings have nothing to do with creative projects.
Unfortunately it is due to the beautiful region we live in being a hot and dry bushfire prone area and there is currently a large fire burning through the Pilliga just to the east of Baradine.
This is a good lesson in planning and preparation especially as I find myself less prepared than I should be!
Who would ever think there could be a down side to being creative?
Creativity = collecting = stuff = interesting, irreplaceable bits and pieces.

I know...it’s just stuff and most of it can be replaced. The frustrating aspect is that the small percentage of irreplaceable bits don’t all fit in the car!
It would seem I get more comfort from my stuff than I thought. Costumes and hats are fun to make and dress up in but they are also bulky and heavy, creative writing journals, diaries and correspondence trace the passage of time and books...I won’t even begin about how precious they are!
Your stuff tells a story. In some ways it defines us or at least reinforces whatever definition we have made for ourselves. Does that sound kind of sad? Maybe but without my stash, I can’t make anything and yet the down side is that all of this stuff also weighs me down, physically and figuratively.
Unsurprisingly I now have the urge to purge!

The plan:

• Reduce my stash
• make better records of special stuff (catalogue titles of books, movies, CDs plus an inventory of household items)
• Save more stuff on USBs or external hard drives
• Have a couple of emergency tubs ready
• Have a list with realistic limits (so that Armand takes enough and Artemis doesn’t take too much!)
• Continue to reduce, reuse, recycle and reinvent

This may seem kind of crazy but I have already lost everything in a fire many years ago. I didn’t have the option of taking anything with me and the shock of that loss was even more devastating with time as I slowly remembered all the bits I could never replace. We had to make a list itemising everything for the insurance...no easy task after it’s all gone.
You would think I’d have it all sorted having experienced it!

So we come back to PP planning and preparation. Whether you are making something wonderful, putting together a flat pack, cooking or in a crisis situation, a little PP goes a long way and will hopefully help you avoid feeling anxious, staying up too late and writing paragraphs about stuff.

Despite distractions, I managed to finish my postcard creations. They have turned out quite well, there are 7 in all. Making them kept me busy and BONUS, if you are one of the lucky 7 to ask first by leaving a comment on this post, I’ll send you one!

It seems appropriate to finish off with the following quote (not sure who said it),


For the longest time, I thought I needed to be more organised. Now I know I just needed less stuff.