— Much is said of this thing we call our “Work – Life balance.” The point made in all such discussions is that it’s far too easy to work yourself to death and forget to take time to live. (The operative notion being that we should not be living to work, but rather be working to live. Which on the surface appears to make good plain sense. Certainly does if you don’t like your work!)
Now, in an ideal situation you will have managed in some way to orchestrate your life and career in such a way that the whole “Work – Life” issue doesn’t even come up. Through good fortune, I find myself in this category.
When your “work” becomes your MISSION, there is no separating life from work. Not in the usual sense. Because when everything is about your dedication to a passionate MISSION (in my case, the mission of helping tens of thousands of artists around the world create rich, meaningful, artistic lives), then everything about how you live and how you work becomes commingled. Your “work” then IS your “life” in a very real sense. What you do and how you spend your time living are largely one and the same.
Of course, that’s rare. Leaving aside the highly fortunate and the retired, most people have regular jobs. Traditional careers. A clear line of demarcation.
And that’s perfectly OK. That’s normal. (Although I would encourage those who have jobs they hate to find some way to simplify, downsize, and seek out a more satisfying line of work, even if it means earning less money. Might not be able to waltz right into a dream career, but you can probably find something you’d enjoy more, while also possibly creating more time for the things in life you love most.)
Ultimately, most people will need to figure out their own approach to an enjoyable “Work – Life” balance.
If your career isn’t the radiant core of your reason for living (if it’s just a job), you probably don’t want to spend all your time working if you can help it. So decide to live on less and avoid debt, making everything easier. And as I once heard it said, “Stop buying stuff you don’t need to impress people you don’t like.” Simplify. Get off the treadmill and create some room in your life for LIFE.
But even when you do find room for Living, the next big question (if you’re an artist) pops up: The question of how to obtain an ideal “Life – Art” balance.
In other words, how much time are you going to give to your Art (making photographs, editing in Lightroom, creating compositions in Photoshop, studying new techniques, posting images to your portfolio, writing in your journals, getting your work out into the world), and how much time will you give to the rest of your Life?
I bring this up because I hear too often people saying that they would like to live a more artistic life, but they simply haven’t the time.
But the fact is, just as Work and Life can be brought together when unified by MISSION, you can bring your Life and your Art together simply by deciding to treat them as one and the same.
Granted, time you spend sitting with Photoshop open on your computer isn’t time you can be spending with your kids at the park. But why can’t you ditch something else that doesn’t really matter and make time for both? And why can’t the two spill over into one another?
When you’re at the park with your kids, you could be taking photos to work into your art later. You could be jotting down ideas for new compositions. You could even get your kids to help you stage something really cool you dream up together, or get them to draw stuff in your journal you’ll later scan and blend into your art. You could arrange a whole exciting adventure with them and turn the whole day into a memorable experience — itself a work of art, in a way.
And then, back home, when you’re working in Photoshop, you’ll find yourself re-experiencing the fun you had that day. Maybe you’ll even find a way to get the kids involved in bringing the project to completion (heck, mixed-media was made for kids!)
This is just one example, but I think it makes the point.
What other things do you like to spend time on in your life? How might you blend those with the artistic life you also want to be living?
They don’t need to be separate, you realize.
Want to take a long walk today with a friend? Awesome. Carry your camera. Talk about art. Or turn the walk into an iPhone photography scavenger hunt, shoot some fun video footage along the way, and then spend time together editing the images with some apps, then share the experience with your friends who couldn’t be there.
Want to kick back and watch a movie? Awesome. Grab a notepad and jot down ideas for images while you watch, or snap photos of the TV screen if you want capture a particularly slick cinematic moment you’d like to try to re-create later on canvas.
Want to read a book? Awesome. Jot down favorite passages in your notebook (or snap photos of them) and dream up illustrations you could create to capture your favorite characters, settings, and scenes.
There is almost no situation I can think of that would constitute “Life” yet couldn’t be readily assimilated by a creative artist in some interesting way — making your “everyday life” all the richer for it.
And the secret ingredient that makes this all possible?
IMAGINATION … or daydreaming …
Take just about any part of your life (heck, even while you’re at work — a little creative daydreaming is sure to make even a crummy job more fun) and get in the habit of actively daydreaming about how you could take what’s right in front of you and turn it into a piece of art.
Daydreaming, using your imagination — it’s a habit you can develop and strengthen with practice.
And if you want to live a more exciting artistic life, if you want to enjoy a life bursting in creativity, developing your capacity to daydream and cook up visual ideas wherever you’re at is essential.
Even an otherwise mundane drive in the car can (if you make the effort) turn into a feast of creative ideas as you look around you and dream up one imaginative composition after another.
(Which is one of the reasons I recommend carrying a notebook everywhere. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve arrived somewhere and then sat in the car for ten minutes writing out my ideas like mad.)
What’s more, you should also start to look for ways to take your daydreaming and bring it out into the world around you. Too many people live humdrum lives because they never make the effort to live otherwise. But with a little imagination and energy you can turn just about anything into an adventure. All it takes is the decision to do something different and make it more fun.
And in that experience you will find the fuel and inspiration for art.
This is how your Art and your Life can come together. Not just now and then, but all the time, every day.
So spend more time daydreaming. Cook up ideas for compositions all the time. Look for those little stray moments when you can dream about making art, wherever you’re at, whatever else you’re doing. And then look for ways to bring the people around you in on it.
Ultimately, your life will be as creative and full of art as you decide to make it.
But you must decide.
And if you get into the habit of always looking for ways to make the things you do more interesting and more adventurous (and more fun for anyone else around you), the art you create out of those experiences will bring depth to your days and richness to everything in your life.
– Sebastian