I had a different log written and planned for today, but as with many things on the ship, I realized as I climbed into bed, tucked my pistol under my pillow, and settled down for a much-needed snooze that this instead needed to be said. Especially so soon before Christmas and New Year’s, a time of year where we think of everyone but ourselves.
Don your Just For Me hat.
We’re expected everyday to wear so many different hats. Our pirate’s hat; our wife hat; our mother’s hat; our bitch’s hat; our writer’s hat; our 9-to-5 hat; our counselor’s hat; our friend hat; our professor’s hat; our housekeeping hat; our Martha Stewart hat; our Budget Queen hat; our Harry Potter Making Magic from Nothing hat….
I myself like a good hat. A lovely plume, a certain richness in the fabric as it folds up into the tricorn…but with all these hats and expectations of our time, we don’t have time to ever wear our Just For Me hat. Worse, we believe, inherently, we also do not have money for such a selfish act…and frankly, just who do we think we are that we deserve a hat that serves no function than other than to be for ourselves?
This is faulty thinking–because despite the title of the Harry Potter hat, you really can’t make something out of nothing. You’re giving up a little bit of yourself with each hat you whip on and off with flair and haste, seamlessly moving from one role to the other, without any regard to why you are doing it, only that it is an important job to be done and SOMEBODY has to do it.
It is little wonder then that at the end of the day, when all is said and done, why any of us would have the energy, desire, or need to even put a string of words on the page. What’s left to fill the blank white space when everything has been sapped by things that needed to be taken care of first–but in which the most important thing, YOU, had not been taken care of at all?
Who in their right minds would want to empty themselves on a page when there is nothing left to give?
You have to fill yourself first before you can put something on the page. And in order to do that, you have to remember you’re worth the consideration of doing something Just for Me. And I’m sure if you turned off the Internal Critic who reminds you that the credit card bill is due, the kids need to get to practice on time, and supper needs to be fixed (since Redbook pointed out that tragically we don’t get home-cooked meals near as often as we get fast food) that you would realize you too deserve just as much attention and time as you give to everyone else.
So go wild. Take a soak in the bathtub and read an extra chapter. Or go wilder, and get an hour massage, followed by a pedicure. Get your hair done. Buy a book you’ve had your eye on. Pop in your yoga tape and do some Half-Moon poses and breathe deeply, enjoying this time you’ve taken just for yourself.
Doing this you may find your Muse is more willing to hang out with you again…and offer you more to empty on your blank pages.
