This is your motivation to be creative (for absolutely no reason)

Somewhere along the way, creativity got rebranded as productivity. You don't paint unless you're good at it. You don't write unless someone's going to read it. You don't take pictures unless they are aesthetic and worthy to share. You don't make things unless they have a point.

But here's the thing. Doing something just because it feels good, because it gets you out of your head, because time disappears when you're in it - that's enough of a reason.

So this one is a gentle nudge to make a little more room for that. Not a new hobby. Not a course. Just a question worth sitting with: what do you actually enjoy making or doing, just for yourself?

Here are three of our favourite ways to start: 

Pick up the thing you put down. The sketchbook. The instrument. The novel you were three chapters into. The recipe you always meant to try. You didn't abandon it because you didn't love it. You abandoned it because life got full. It's still there. Maybe the time you spend scrolling could be blocked out for this instead.

Do it badly, on purpose. The reason most of us stop being creative as adults is because we get self-conscious about not being good enough. So make something deliberately imperfect. Cook something without a recipe. Dance around your kitchen. Write a terrible poem. The real question is: did you enjoy it, even if it was a bit of a disaster?

Notice what puts you in a flow state. You know that feeling where you look up and an hour has gone by? That's not nothing, that's you being completely present. Think about when that last happened for you, and whether you could engineer a bit more of it into your week.

None of this needs to take long. Even twenty minutes of doing something purely because you enjoy it shifts something. You don't need to be talented. You don't need a reason. You just need to decide it's worth your time, and then actually give it some.

What would you make more room for, if you gave yourself permission?

With love, Kate and the Retreat Yourself team.