Ooooops! I went overboard with the new year resolutions...
You might have seen this post in which I tell you about my 2026’s goals. I was pretty ambitious! In theory it made sens but in practice it ended up being unsustainable for me. 30 minutes a day of art related to future merch. This does not seem too bad right? i Thought I could handle it but for a few reasons I’m about to get into it did not work out for me in this current season of my life.
You can do anything but you can’t do everything
I’m repeating this post’s title but it is because I really wanna emphasize this point! This is what made me fail!
For context: I am a mom of 2 young kids 5 and 3 with a full time job. My health is important to me so I walk a minimum 30 minutes everyday + I workout a few times a week.
I tried to make everything fit with not only the limited time I have but mostly the limited ENERGY I have left!
An average day for me looks like: Waking up just before 7, walking 30 minutes, eating breakfast and getting the kids ready with my boyfriend. Then I get to my desk to work (I work from home). During my lunch break I either workout or I nap. When I’m done working, I cook and/or clean a little before the family arrive home. My kids really take a while to eat ahah. After dinner I usually play with them or try to finish some chores.
What I tried to do
I tried to force myself to do a daily 30 minutes drawing session for merch stuff. I only managed to make it fit after the kids were in bed. Sometimes it can take a while, if you got young kids you know what I mean lol. So I would often be pretty tired of my evening, it’s almost 9pm by that point. I just want to rest but my todo list is not over so I gotta draw 30 minutes of something I’m not in the mood for, to ‘deserve’ to rest after. I managed that for a bit over a month then one day i just went fuck it! I did not even feel guilty. I was burned. It took out all the fun out of drawing for me, i was resenting it.
I just stopped drawing
I simply stopped. I was fed up. I was even considering stopping doing convention. I wanted art to feel good like before. Not this thing full of pressure. It’s not like I’m making big money from it, I have no reason to stress myself like that. It became an experiment almost, I let time pass, I did not push it , i waited until I felt like drawing in a healthy way. my last drawing session was February 1st.
Then I drew
I drew again a few days ago on march 13th. I opened my sketchbook and just drew a little. I did the same the next day, then the next day (today). It was fun!!
What now?
I still have art ambitions but I refuse to pursue them if it is to ruin my relationship with art. I will figure out a new way. I still run my Etsy shop and that is fun. I have a Comicon coming up. I decided to not stress myself with the outcome. I will talk about this in another post.
I refuse to have to draw 30 minutes of a specific thing to deserve to draw for fun after or to simply relax. I have read a lot and caught up on shows with my boyfriend during that time. That was way more relaxing for me than a forced drawing session before bed.
I do have ideas to include more art time in my life, in my busy life, in fun and healthy ways. One step at a time 🙂
I will stop here for today. Thank you for your time and I hope it made some people feel less alone 🙂
