The Me-Time Mixtape: Three essential hand-curated links and resources on creative self-care. Carve out some me time this week!

I can feel a vacation coming on!! Yes, I'm heading to the Netherlands soon for a few weeks to take in the beautiful architecture, the canals, the lush gardens, and the street art. Along the way, I'll navigate Dutch wordplay (coffee shop vs. cafe). I'm sure I'll have some stories (and tons of pictures to share) when I get back!

Today, I'm talking about living a balanced life with an episode on The Middle Way. It's been a hectic summer at work, so it feels like a good time to take my own advice, get off the hamster wheel, and add a little fun to my life.

#1 Get Your Rest On

I’ve been resting lately and talking about it. Mainly because it seems so foreign to me that when I do rest, I feel the need to acknowledge it. How did I get here? To this busy place where my needs are often buried under a ton of other priorities? I have more questions than answers!

I found a kindred spirit when I read this article on overcoming barriers to rest. It’s a good read, especially these points:

  • The concept of COWs (conditions of worth) and an exploration of whether outside validation is at the root cause of a sense of urgency to produce. 🙋🏽‍♀️
  • We can “untangle” ourselves from the faulty belief that resting is synonymous with a lack of productivity.
  • The importance of exploring your relationship to rest, especially as a way of feeling more present in your life.
Feeling Depleted? How to Overcome Your Internal Barriers to Resting - Tiny Buddha
We are a culture that is tired to the bone. Rest offers us a restorative healing balm for anxiety, exhaustion, overexertion, and illness.
Tiny BuddhaKrista Resnick

#2 Impermanence (and The Middle Way)

You'll hear me talk about the Buddhist concepts of Impermanence and The Middle Way in today's episode (#35) of the podcast. This beautiful stoic sentiment from Heraclitus sums things up nicely.

Painting of a river flowing through a meadow with a quote from Heraclitus that reads "“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”

#3 Balancing Full-time Work & Creative Projects

I work full-time as a grant writer and produce my podcast and newsletter after work, usually in two-hour blocks of time each day and then larger blocks on the weekends. What's kept me motivated? Honestly, it's the creative flow states that I achieve when producing the show, especially putting my words to music.

For any of you in short supply of that motivation, or curious about how best to balance your full-time job with creative projects, I think this article is worth a read.

Two tips that had me nodding my head in agreement were:

  • the benefits of identifying your "creative peak hours" and protecting them and
  • the idea that "done is better than perfect."
How to balance full-time work with creative projects
A guide to finding the right day job, protecting your time, and building creative habits by Jeffrey Silverstein. Illustrated by Sunny Eckerle.

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Episode #35: Mindfulness and Moderation: The Power of the Middle Way

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