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Last month, we considered the ways in which tackling creative challenges builds confidence over time, confidence that then spills over into other areas of your life. But seriously, sometimes even the work involved in figuring out new creative challenges, new things to try, or new projects to start, is exhausting to contemplate. When you start feeling that way, maybe it’s time to take a class. Show up ready to try something new where someone else has chosen the project, written the list of supplies, and scheduled the time. That’s what I just did and it was amazing. I took a 5-day painted landscapes workshop with Denise Labadie at the Hudson River Valley Fiber Arts Workshops and I would have gladly stayed another week.

Being able to get away by myself for five days of studio time was pure bliss and I left revived, my creativity rejuvenated. I came home, moved the piles of crap off my cutting table, took care of the shirts that needed labels that were sitting on my sewing machine, and hung my in-process quilt and all of my painted fabric up on the design wall. Each day, I added a few more rocks. It wasn’t much and I didn’t spend a lot of time creating every day, but it made all of the difference and helped me get through what was a truly horrible work week. Turning to my creativity has often been a balm in times of great stress and having a ready-to-go project from a class made that possible.

Do you have an emergency project you can turn to when desperate for the stress relief that comes from creativity? If not, maybe it’s time to get a kit or find a class. 

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