Birthdays and bumblings

and cutting yourself some slack

I skipped a few days. I was wondering whether to just leave it at that, because I had failed at an early hurdle. But no… Skipping a few days is not the end of the world and I won’t ever build any happy and healthy habits if I give up at the first wobble. So, I’m back. Without a timing today, but I will get back to that.

Yesterday was my youngest’s birthday – 14 years old. And I’ve been spending time getting things ready for that, in amongst a normal (or even a bit higher than normal) level of work – buying and wrapping presents, baking cake, making a card, and so on. I could have squeezed in the daily drawing and writing, but I didn’t. And I’m going to allow myself to accept that and feel fine about it.

Because every time I try to do a daily drawing practice [I should note that I literally do draw every day - I honestly don’t think a day goes by when I don’t do some kind of drawing, even when it’s not client work or for a particular project or purpose. My sketchbooks sit on my desk, in my bag, in the dining room, under the coffee table and my desk notebook is also full of doodles and sketches and patterns. But the daily drawing practice is more about either a specific theme, a specific style, a specific skill or just a timed drawing of some kind.] I find some reason to give up. And I’m not going to let a couple of missed days be that excuse this time round. Nor am I going to let shedding subscribers be an excuse. I am doing this for me and if other people enjoy following along then that’s lovely, but it’s not essential.

So, you will see me (not me personally, obviously) in your inbox tomorrow.