What motivates you?

What’s your creative motivation?

I love to run my hands over the pages of my visual journals. Always have and I suspect I always will.

When I was at my worst after being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, I only had enough physical, and emotional stamina to journal in very small bursts of time. And sometimes all I could hope for was enough strength and minimal pain so that I could just touch a few pages and reminisce about what I’d created and the memories that came up during the making. And in those moments it was enough for me to remember and enjoy.

Adding texture and how my supplies feel in and under my hands is important to me.

Then and now.

I never know when I might experience a flare. I never know when or if my meds will stop working. I never know what my body will be able to do on any given day. Basically, there are a lot of unknowns while living with a chronic illness. But I do know that when and if I feel like it, I can create something now that I can enjoy later.

Sometimes that’s the only motivation I need to spend some time with my journals.

What do you do/make/create for your future self?