I had great plans for #Inktober2020, back in September when I was on vacation, and had too much time to think, and make big plans. However, I should have been setting realistic goals.
Also, most of my art supplies were at home so I couldn’t really get started.
In fact, while I was on vacation, I planned out a whole month of paintings for #Inktober, one a day. I drew some sketches on Procreate. I even took some on location photos for street scenes. Which I’m sure I’ll use someday.
But when I got home, reality set in again. I realized that there was no way I could complete a painting a day. Setting goals like that for myself just creates a lot of anxiety.
However, I’ll share the paintings I completed here. You can see the sketches and progress shots on my Instagram. Perhaps the story will be continued . . . next #Inktober .
In the watercolor story that I imagined, my character started off visiting a hat shop. After trying on several hats, she settled on a witches hat, of course. And that’s as far as my paintings got. I posted the last watercolor I finished, of her trying on the witches hat to Instagram on Halloween.
See, the other thing is, when I was planning all of this lovely painting, I sort of forgot that I’m really a sculptor, and a clay artist. And a blogger. And maybe that’s a good thing. When you live with anxiety, creating too many goals for yourself just increases your stress levels.
How Unreachable Goals Create More Anxiety in Our Lives
Hobbies are meant to be an escape from our stressful lives. But sometimes they take over and create more anxiety instead of relieving it. Posting our art and our dolls on social media just increases the stress to create more, or keep up with “friends” we don’t even truly know.
Even with just focusing on drawing, and painting watercolors throughout the month of #Inktober, I felt a bit overwhelmed because I’d set a goal I couldn’t reach.
It would have been better if I’d said to myself, “Just have fun with this!” Or “You’ve never inked paintings before. It’s okay if it doesn’t look perfect.” Positive self talk is not one of my strengths though. I tend to be a perfectionist prone to harsh self criticism.
So my character didn’t get to meet a black cat on the way home, chat with a neighbor, or borrow his broom on which she flew off to London. There were lots more plans, and I have them all written down. Somewhere.
But on a bright note, I did manage to finish 2 watercolor paintings in one week, and post them to social media!
How to Set Realistic Goals
When we make realistic goals for ourselves, it’s important not just to make a “to do” list for the rest of the year. In addition, spend some time thinking about what your day is like and how much time you have to work on the items on your list.
For example, I started learning to draw when my son was a toddler. The only time I had to myself was his afternoon nap time because I was following the attachment parenting model.
If I made a goal that I was going to practice drawing for 2 hours a every afternoon, learn to paint, etc., I never could have reached it, and would have ended up feeling angry and frustrated with myself.
Instead I set a goal to draw every day while he was napping. Some days, I got well over an hour to work on my hobby, but other days he only napped for 20 minutes, or I wasn’t able to get him to sleep at all.
Goals for Mental Health
Yesterday morning I got up an hour later after the time change, Since I haven’t changed my bedside clock, it looked like I’d slept till after 7!
I set about creating some goals for the week that I think I can achieve, but also I thought about what active steps I can take to reduce anxiety.
We are all living through exceptionally stressful times. It’s easy to get caught up in the constant flow of negative information that flows into our lives through TV and the internet.
These are the goals is what I wrote down to begin practicing daily:
- Meditate 30 minutes every day
- Practice conscious breathing
- Go for a walk in the woods by myself
I have found that just reading articles or books about anxiety does nothing to alleviate it if we don’t take positive steps to actively reduce it, and make them part of our daily routine.
5 Tips for Setting Realistic Goals
- Prioritize what you want to achieve.
- Limit your list. (Only you know what is realistic for you.)
- Set a time line, for example I keep both weekly & monthly goal lists.
- Make adjustments when necessary.
- Don’t procrastinate! Start working right away.
This is my list of things to accomplish this week:
- Complete new drawing and start watercolor.
- Finish blog post for Tuesday ** I did this, obviously!
- Work on polymer clay food tutorials for BJD sized dolls (I’m making onions!)
- Paint new head.
Just writing down the most important things that I want to finish this week makes it seem a little less overwhelming. Plus, when we write down a list, and keep in where we can find it to refer back to, we’re less likely to waste time on stuff that’s not part of our goals for the week.
Will I Do #Inktober Next Year?
I’m not sure yet. Somewhere in the month of October, I remembered that I moved on from drawing to sculpting a long time ago, and there must have been a reason.
I used to love to sculpt so much that I sometimes didn’t want to go on vacation because I couldn’t pack my clay along in my suitcase.
Somewhere, between home schooling my son, and caring for my mom, I told myself I didn’t have time to sculpt anymore, but I’d pick it up again in the future. And while I was telling myself that, years went by. It was a big mistake. We should never put our dreams on hold.
I’m back to sculpting now. I’m starting slow, making accessories for the dolls I sculpted in the past, and the BJD dolls I collect. I shared my first tutorial last week, How to Make an Easy Tomato Cane.
I have lots of items to make and more tutorials planned. As my husband and I complete my doll rooms for my MSD sized dolls, I’ll be making many of the furnishings, and the food. I’ll share my how-to instructions here in my Resource Library if you want to follow along. You can get a free password here.