When Overload Strikes

Creative people are frequent sufferers from overload, for various reasons:  we work full-time at a "regular" job and then try to squeeze all our creative projects into to our "spare" time (which is why the clean laundry is solidifying into a new continent on my bedroom floor, ha, ha, ha).  But seriously, there are other things that have to get done, too, or the house falls apart, there's only a path through the rooms, and somebody hotlines you for being a hoarder or creating a public nuisance!

I know that we all share the overload problem, regardless of what we do for a living, but I think that creatives get frustrated for the above reason and others.  I've been known to joke that my day job gets in the way of my creativity, but it's also how I support (monetarily) my creativity. What a dilemma.

Here's what I do to save my ideas and sanity:  keep a journal handy.  Mine is small enough to fit in my purse, and I write down ideas, problems and do sketches when they come to my mind, or at least scribble a note or a post-it and stick it to the journal so I can revisit the idea later.  Oh, all right, sometimes it's the back of a Wal-Mart receipt, that gets crammed between the pages, but you get the idea.  There's a specific place to put ideas. And it doesn't mean you have to act on each one, either--sometimes they need to germinate, percolate, or ferment.  I look back through my journal periodically and either take action on an idea, add to something, or appreciate it as an idea for later.  Either way, it's a very valuable tool!

Blessings!---Miss Elainie