I'm all for mental health days. And gentleness. And I think the world should take the month of December off. And for the love of God, a 4 day work week would revolutionize the collective human spirit and thusly, healthcare. But this pep talk isn't about taking it easy, this is about another form of self care: doing whatever it takes.

The other morning I woke up with the uncontrollable urge to make art in some form or fashion.  It didn’t much matter to me what that art was or wasn’t.  And it also didn’t matter to me that I have no art history at all.  I don’t hold a fine art degree or have some extensive list of various art workshops that I’ve taken.  All I have is a folder full of pencil sketches that I have done at random intervals over the years and a sudden yearning to create.  Lately it seems that I have been more interested in wielding a paint brush dripping with color and attacking any surface in sight (including my bedroom walls) to fulfill my creative needs than doing just about anything else.

I was just asked by my awesome new friend SARK to write about why I write. Now mind you, I write every day. For hours. Writing is what I do. I've written three books, countless magazine articles, and over 350 blog posts, in addition to the private journal writing nobody sees. Writing comes totally naturally to me. And yet, faced with this task, I found myself paralyzed. How do you write about writing? I mean I'm a big fan of Anne Lamott's Bird By Bird. And she does it so brilliantly! But I struggled. Then I muddled through. This is what came out.

From the time I was six, when a family friend gave me a leather-bound blank book and invited me to write in it, I have been a writer. I was offered my first publishing deal when I was 11 (I turned it down -- they were my private stories, after all. Sheesh!).

Grounding

A long to-do list sits before me, but I set it all down to plan my birthday dinner with friends even though it’s more than a month away. 

Remembering Pleasure

I’m looking at the menu of a local vegan restaurant about which I've heard rave reviews, but have never been to. Listen to this first dish: whole wheat tortilla with spicy butternut and black bean chili, ground walnut chorizo, zucchini tahini nacho cheese, scallion, avocado and roasted red pepper sour cream served with blue corn chips. Just reading the description of this first item makes me want to go shopping at the local market and fill my basket with fresh ingredients to whip up an amazing feast. The restaurant has just opened a cocktail lounge too, with “fresh juice cocktails” like The Lemon Bomb with lemongrass and cardamom infused vodka, fresh lemon juice, agave and soda.

The Power of Play