If not now, when?

Photo by Dayne Topkin on Unsplash 

"The trouble is, you think you have time." ~Jack Kornfield

I read somewhere that Leonardo da Vinci painted his Mona Lisa on and off from 1503 to 1519,  leading some art pundits to posit that procrastination can be good for creative people since it allows the ideas to percolate in their minds before they are expressed elsewhere. This is not the kind of procrastination I'm writing about today. I'm all for laying down tracks, walking away, coming back tomorrow, and even many tomorrows after that. In fact, that's how my weekly columns here begin. I finish one and almost immediately begin prepping for next week's, knowing that edits and revisions along the way will make the piece stronger. There's a certain alchemy to this creative process; a vague idea gets fleshed out over time (yes, even over years), and may even morph into a completely different topic or project. 

It's the procrastination laden with excuses, weighed down by perfectionism, that is deadly to the creative soul and process. It's the people who never begin, the ones who lament they don't have the time, talent, finances and/or resources, who suffer the most.  I'll even go so far as to venture that we all suffer when these individuals fail to step into their creative skins. Why? Our creative spirits need to be fed, nurtured, loved, maintained, and like any hunger, left unsatisfied, all sorts of emotional maladies (and perhaps physical ones as well) surface: anger, depression, frustration, complacency--the list goes on. 

Who are these blocked creative individuals? They are you, and me. Each one of us is gifted in some way (often in multiple ways), but some people never open their package. Please step into your bright, wonderful creative self. Here are a few gentle reminders.

If not now, when?

Stop making excuses.

Life won't wait. 

Do it now. 

Just start.

Do the work.

Why not try?

Go for it.

It began as a mistake.

Wisdom begins in wonder.

You said, "tomorrow," yesterday.