Remember: Easy Does It

It’s a bright, sunny March day and I made it out for a long run. I feel good … and not so good.

This morning, driving my partner’s jeep, the clutch failed. The jeep is stuck in my driveway; I can’t get out of reverse. It’s how I feel about my artistic endeavours at the moment. I’m working on a tough rewrite on a novella, and a short story. I’m also at work on a new series of paintings. When I can, I get to the piano, trying to finish the score of a song I’m composing.

On days like today, I feel like I’m in reverse. Forget that there aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything — I know I’m trying to do too much at once. Too many ideas flooding my mind, and I have no real mechanism to get them all down.

I try to remember: easy does it. I don’t necessarily mean that I have to take things slowly, just that if I keep at it, one step at a time, one day at a time, I will reach the journey’s end. Yes, I try to remember, easy does it, but that’s not always “easy.”