Forming good habits and routines and sticking with them is always a challenge when life seems to be pulling you in a million different direction. You tell yourself that the early morning ritual of writing Morning Pages and being productive before the sun rises is for people that don't have a family that includes young children. That your children rise at 5am on a regular basis and you are far to busy to nurture yourself with regular Artist Dates while caring for your family. The same goes for regular dates with your partner the excuses to skip dates and focus on the children exclusively is all too tempting and easy to fall into. The problem with these excuses is that everybody has them and it is a choice to fall for them or push through them. Not everybody is in the trenches of parenthood with small children but everybody is busy and everybody has time constraints. Some periods in life are harder than others so maybe the date nights will be on a smaller scale or at home with the TV off just engaging in conversation and the Artist Dates may just be a walk in the woods or getting a latte in the morning after dropping the kids off at school. But it is important to keep these habits up as best I can and just keep on writing, keep on creating and keep nurturing myself, my artist and my relationship. Take the time to look up at my surroundings and notice the beauty that is all around and how truly lucky I am.
