What if your Ikigai, your love, your passion, your outlet, was allowed to move and evolve?
What's the difference between an Ikigai that evolves and one that gets buried?
How do you know which is happening to you?
I've been gone for three months. Not lost, not ignoring my writing. Just living. And missing my writing.
Thinking of it every.
single.
day.
The Outlets That Hibernate
Writing is one of my creative outlets, as is art, particularly drawing. I haven't felt I've had the time to draw on a regular basis for quite some time. But when I do, I'm able to completely forget about everything.
It's an incredible feeling I believe I share with many other artists, writers, and creatives. It is one of the only times I am able to shut the world around me out and think of nothing but my charcoal and graphite stained fingers, the sound of my pencil on the paper, and my vision.
My writing has taken a forefront to drawing in my creative expression mostly since college, with some exceptions here and there. I was a writing minor in college and took a heavy load of creative writing and poetry classes.
These were not work for me. They were a break from solving complex organic chemistry problems and memorizing physics equations. I couldn't wait to start my assignments once I received them. After 2 to 3 days of mostly subconsciously and passively organizing my thoughts, I sat down to write. Within an hour or two I had an almost final draft. The words just flowed from my brain to my fingertips like they were always there, waiting in queue for their signal to come out.
What Hibernation Isn't
My time to dedicate to drawing and writing didn't really go away. I just prioritized other things. This didn't happen on purpose. It just wasn't scheduled into my life the way a class is. Medical school was demanding, then residency and fellowship, and then growing my family, building my career.
I didn't give my passions up. I just found more of them, and my space to balance all of them together became tighter.
I had to allow some of them to hibernate until I was ready to return to them.
Many of us don't give ourselves the grace to even think that is a reality. We have committed ourselves to something, whether a vision or a dream, and feel a responsibility to follow it through, for ourselves or for our family.
The Pause That Wasn't an Abandonment
I also want to acknowledge that I have been absent from my posts for 3 months. Not because I didn't want to write, but because I wasn't able to give everything I was doing my full attention.
I had to recognize my limits and accept them.
I didn't abandon my writing. I just took a pause. In doing so, I had the opportunity to gain so many other experiences and insights to reflect upon and write about. I am looking forward to sharing them with you.
buried, or just hibernating?Is something in your life buried right now, or has it genuinely evolved?
How do you tell the difference?
If something in your life has been hibernating and you're trying to figure out whether it's time to wake it up, that's the kind of question I love to sit with as a coach. Coaching is one way to do that work. Book a free discovery call if you'd like to talk.
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