Art Heals: Recreation

I love writing these letters every weekday, as it connects you with the work of some of my artists. (Follow them online if you like their work; many of them are posting new work and need those eyeballs.)

But I also look forward to not writing on the weekend.  It’s my form of not working in this freeform system of “working from home” to which we are all adapting in our own ways.  I  think many of us  are putting a lot of pressure on ourselves to be productive, as a way of coping with the anxiety we feel in this  mutable situation, whether it is monitoring the words per page we put out, the reports we write, the numbers we can still crunch for our  bosses, the quantity and quality of the at-home lessons we teach the kids, or the gourmet  dinners we feel we must produce because we now “have the time.” The impulse is understandable, we need to feel in control of this uncontrollable situation.   But we are in this for the long haul.  As so many people have said, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.   We shouldn’t, we mustn’t work all the time, no matter how we define work.

Which brings me to the weekend, and recreation.  Ok, I can already hear you saying, is that woman crazy?  Recreation means baseball (yes, I know the season opener has already pa without a trace), it means going out to brunch, it means swings in the park, or drinks at an outdoor beer garden.  I hear you, but I have been introduced to a new take on the concept, which I would like to share.  (Credit for this idea goes to a comment I heard from Nancy Pelosi, of all people.)
Recreate. Recreate. Same word but shift the accent and you have a plan for action.  Rec’create,  to refresh by means of relaxation and enjoyment, as restore physically or mentally.  If you do that occasionally, then you can Re’create, to create anew.
Shift the accent in your life.  Take the weekend “off.”  Find something to do that gives you pleasure. No guilt. (Ok, eating that whole bag of Mint Milanos gives me pleasure, but you know that is not what I mean.) Then on Monday you can shift back into work mode refreshed, ready to work on recreating the life you will have again someday.
Here is an image of fun with Mr. Potato Head by Adnan Charara (remember that?) and some birdwatching thanks to Najib Joe Hakim.  Relax.  Art Heals.