My Creative World has been Squirreled!

My creative world has been squirreled! Summer, work, family, life and now the new addition of a puppy into my world!

In the Pixar movie ‘Up’ the dogs are easily distracted by surrounding events and animals, and when this happens their heads quickly turn and exclaim ‘Squirrel!’. My life sometimes feels like this, easily distracted and unfocused.

The author Steven Pressfield calls these distractions or obstacles we face, ‘resistance’. His philosophy is that resistance is inevitable with any project, goal, calling or action that you set forth that is in favor of long term growth, health or integrity (“Do the Work” p5). In fact resistance could be used as a compass as to what is really important to you, that’s how inevitable that it is going to reveal its self. Resistance can come in many forms from fear, self-doubt, procrastination, rational though and even family and friends. But it is in pushing though these moments that the true reward is found in completing a goal.

This week I decided to once again pick up my scissors and to push through the resistance I felt this summer. To refuel my creative enthusiasm, I decided to take on a sewing project for Henley.

This is Henley.

He’s a Weimaraner who came into my world June 11^th, 2017 at the young age of 9 weeks old.

Not having owned a dog in my adult life, the adjustment has been welcomed with enthusiasm along with a huge learning curve, as I try to understand a puppy’s brain.

He is currently 20 weeks old (5 months), weighs 44 lbs and is 22″ tall.

I’m sure most people would just go out and purchase a dog bed…but my mother has successfully instilled in me how to analyze an item in a store and say to myself “I can make that!”. So I dug deep into my fabric stash to find a piece of durable denim that seemed to fit the project perfectly and picked up high density foam from Marshall Fabrics here in Winnipeg.

The only criteria I had for this project was that the bed had to be comfortable, durable, and washable as Henley grows up to be a mature weight of 70lbs and 27” tall.

It’s a large bed measuring 32” x 28” and 7” high. Nothing original or fancy about it, but Henley has taken to it naturally.

Coincidently, picking up my scissors successfully stirred up enough inspiration that I may have gotten a little carried away. My four-legged friend now has his very own puppy quilt.

It’s a small, whole fabric quilt measuring 40”x40” for him to cuddle up with in his crate.

Nothing complicated, but super rewarding to make, as I was able to start and finish it in one evening.

So that has been my summer, battling resistance and spending time with Henley.

How was your summer? Were you sidetracked from important goals, routines or projects that you are looking forward to conquering this fall? Have you ever experienced a project, goal or calling where resistance showed up? Where you able to identify it and kick it in it’s butt?

Reading Recommendations: If you are looking for encouragement as you work through a project or goal, check out Steven Pressfield books, “The War of Art” and “Do the Work”. Easy, rewarding reads and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.