Breaking the Rules

I have always characterized myself as a “rule-follower,” which has generally kept me conventionally successful and punishment-free. But how ridiculous to impose my own rules on myself for no good reason!

For example, I decided that Fridays would be my art journal update days. But then last week, I wanted to share my journal earlier in the week, and then I didn’t want to post on Friday. And I felt bad about it! I was breaking “the rules,” messing with “the schedule.”

And then I remembered:  this is MY blog, MY rules, MY schedule. I'm the one who created the restriction. Oh my, what crazy games my mind plays on itself.

So, all this to say, I will share my journal pages whenever I feel like it, and I will try very hard not to get myself tangled up in knots of my own making!  (Welcome to my neuroses!) 

********

One of my recent art journal spreads reflects my current thinking about my family’s new practice of eating dinner together.

Before last week, the girls were ready to eat around 5 pm, and they didn’t eat the same things we were eating, because I wasn’t preparing our meal until after they were in bed.

But I wanted the girls to get used to the idea of us eating as a family, and I thought that if they saw the way we eat meat and vegetables, they just might be more willing to add these things to their diet.

Generally, it has been a positive experience. It feels “right” to have us all sitting around the table together. The noise level is taking me awhile to adjust to, but it’s a small price to pay for a good habit. And ever so briefly my three-year-old decided she would eat vegetables so she could be “strong like Mommy.”

The journal came about because I managed to stress about this change in family dynamic. (See? Knots of my own making!) The girls were not going to suddenly dig into a pork chop or chicken casserole just because they saw us do it. So how did I make sure they got enough to eat while still encouraging them to eat what we are eating? And without abandoning my entire cooking repertoire? 

As so often happens, my mother managed to “talk me down from the ledge” and see the situation more realistically. This journal spread helped me process her advice and move forward with a more manageable mealtime plan.

********

I did another page yesterday that shows a little bit of what is going on in my mind:

As soon as I was finished, I thought of several other things that I am also thinking about (or should be thinking about!), but I figure I’ll do another page like this another day, and some of those things might take their places then. 

I think this could be a kind of "exercise" that I do again and again to kind of "take stock" of where my head is, and maybe help me re-prioritize or at least make sure I have a reasonable balance of good for all of the worry!  
********

Finally, have you seen the latest Sweet ‘n Low advertisement? It’s not a product I use, but the ad caught my eye, and led me to a fun doodle/coloring activity that has filled a good bit of time yesterday and today…colorful and zany!

Thanks for checking out my recent journaling fun!  Happy Memorial Day to those of you who celebrate this special holiday weekend.