Life into Art

On finding creative space in the everyday.

My baby’s a great sleeper, and I think I’m kinda bummed?

This might sound crazy, but throughout my exhausting third trimester of pregnancy, I actually dreamed of being up several times in the night nursing the baby.

Chasing a toddler around and helping her through lots of feelings, on top my other responsibilities for our home and family, is enough to fill my brain up to the brim each day.

And I knew life would only get fuller once I was caring for a new baby.

So as I drew closer to my due date in December, I fantasized about the middle-of-the-night, dim, distraction-free creative space I’d have.

I pictured typing on my phone to the hum of the sound machine (like I did to write my first book), free to let my thoughts wander and my mind create.

I even planned on starting work on my next book during that time.

But turns out, this baby’s a great sleeper.

(Honestly not sure if I’m complaining or bragging?)

Don’t get me wrong, I’d definitely prefer it this way. I’m already tired enough. But part of me is sad about the lack of creative headspace I have right now.

I do wonder: if she didn’t sleep as well, I’d be totally exhausted, but at least I’d have a good chunk of another book written?

Would I rather be physically rested or creatively fulfilled?

My current season of parenting little kids (on top of just moving into the first house we’ve ever owned) feels full.

But I’ve realized that im still exercising my creativity—most of it just goes toward my girls right now.

So I’ve decided that if I want to make art, I just need to make art out of life.

I don’t have time for anything extra, but I do have the creative raw materials of my everyday life: thoughts mulling around in my brain, scenes out my window, accidentally-poetic things my daughter says as l teach her life skills.

Creativity doesn’t have to be complicated. Art comes from life. So as I’m living my life, I’m just taking a bit of extra time to make art out of it. Right now, that looks like capturing beauty through phone photography and videography (like the super simple Fourth Trimester short film in this post) and sharing weekly reflections in writing on my Substack.

If you’re itching to be creative but feel like you don’t have the time, how can you create art out of your life? Would love to hear your ideas❤️