A Hodgepodge

Great news! The Eric Maisel creativity project I am participating in as a blog correspondent launched this week. You can see it here: http://www.ericmaisel.blogspot.com. If you want to see my first post, you can find it here: http://ericmaisel.blogspot.com/2008/07/muse-quest-pdx.html.

I started it out with one of my favorite quotes from Charles Kingsley: “We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.” I keep circling back to this quote. It pokes at me, trying to tell me something, but I’m not completely sure of the full message yet. I definitely have enthusiasms. I often think I have too many. I think the quote is my reminder that I have to nurture my enthusiasms, but I also have to figure out which ones are real passions and which ones are passing fancies.

Writing is a real passion for me. Even when I am not writing as regularly as I would like, I am always thinking about writing, thinking about my stories, studying writing books, reading what other authors have to say about writing. That one’s a definite and will always be on the list of things that deserve my attention.

What else? This is the hard part! Embroidery/fiber arts. I think I’ve been doing it long enough and find it fascinating enough that it falls into the “keeper” category. I really do love the fabrics and threads and colors and textures.

Reading. I nearly forgot this one because in a sense, for me, it’s part of writing. But I couldn’t live without books. Why would I even want to?!

Is there room for anything else? That’s the part I have to think about. I have other hobbies that take up my time, and I really enjoy them, but I don’t know that I can call them passions. I can definitely get enthused by them, just not on a continual basis. So do those things deserve my time and attention? And how do I make sure I’m not giving them too much?

This balance question is probably the biggest issue modern people contend with. I don’t have answers. I am getting close to my own answers, I think. How does everyone else decide what gets time and attention? How do you find that balance? And can someone else’s formula work for other people?

Hoping to hear some answers…