Time is a funny thing isn’t it? What you choose to do with it, how you can get lost in it, and how it seems to escape you…especially as a new mom. I can’t tell you how many times I have attempted to sit down to write this blog and been interrupted by little cries from the other room or have had to fight the near incessant need to sleep with any spare moment I kind find. Don’t get me wrong, they are beautiful interruptions and I wouldn’t have it any other way…but they still feel like interruptions none the less. As a designer, I use to live for the moments when I sat down at my laptop and could just design for hours…if I could manage to find myself in that sweet spot we creatives like to call “the zone”. But now, I am lucky to get a mere twenty minutes without a little boy needing his momma. He needs to be cuddled, he needs to be fed, he needs to be changed, he needs to be held, he needs, well, sometimes I don't even know what he needs but I know one thing…he needs me. Every last bit of me. And I am more than happy to give that to him. In fact, I love giving him my time. It’s precious and we won’t get it back. And that’s my point. That’s why I have realized these past few months that perhaps these interruptions aren’t really interruptions at all, but rather opportunities and, dare I say, blessings?
Perhaps we need to be interrupted. Not just as parents, but as creatives. Even the artist was interrupted by the muse, the divine. But it wasn’t without inspiration or a spark for creativity. When the artist was interrupted by the muse it became the birthplace for creativity and wonder. Just as these last few weeks with my son have been. I have actually been more inspired creatively than ever before. Since he's come into this world I have re-branded my business and launched my new website, wrote and illustrated a children's book and started working with a design studio. Ever since he has entered this world, my inspiration has been at an all time high. Every time I look into his big brown eyes, I am reminded that I created that...perhaps my greatest creation yet if I do say so myself. I feel more fulfilled and hold more purpose than I've ever known. I look at my son and I am reminded of the childlike nature of creativity - the innocence of a raw, new idea, the playfulness and curiosity that manifests within the dynamic, creative process, the growth of a vision and the excitement as you watch your creation take on a life of it's own, as it takes on a life outside of you. Often it is something you never expected. Art is quite transcendent that way, I suppose. You wonder, just as you do with a child, “what will you become?” and “who will you reach?” Creativity and the art of motherhood are quite similar that way. Come to think of it, there are many ways they are similar and many ways in which I believe being a creative has actually prepared me for motherhood - the all-nighters (can I get an amen!), the chaos that inevitably fills the mind, the constant need to adapt, the inner battle against perfectionism (this one hits home real hard), oh, and did I mention the all-nighters?
In all seriousness, both motherhood and creativity are deeply part of the human experience and humanity relies on them to prosper. The world needs mothers to raise up little humans that are kind, curious, and imaginative. Just like the world needs artists to evoke these things in a world that often forgets them. And all of this should be dealt with in a matter of grace, as grace often begets beauty. Those divine interruptions that we talked about before can only lead us to a better, more beautiful place, as mothers, as artists and as creative advocates in society. These "interruptions" remind us to pause and often redirect our focus towards something else, something perhaps more rewarding than the thing we were once throwing ourselves at and giving every ounce of our energy to. And, maybe, through these interruptions and moments of inner grace, in both artistry and motherhood, we end up finding our humanity and knowing our inner self more sacredly and intimately than ever before.
