Ruthieisms – Create what makes your heart happy

Lessons from my 5th Grade Art Teacher

I don’t remember a lot from my elementary school days. Like a lot of introverted kids, my school days weren’t the most enjoyable days of my life. Even back then, I had been accelerated twice and so by Grade 5 I was about 2 years younger than everyone in my class. And I had buck teeth.

Needless to say, I was a target for bullies and teasing all the way up until high school.

By now you might be wondering what the heck this has to do with creating coloring pages.

For me, it has everything to do with it. And it just might for you too, if you’re at all like me.
Because one day in the fifth grade my art teacher taught me a lesson that has stuck with me even to this day.

I had been complaining all through the class about how I couldn’t draw, and of course the teacher heard me. I was told to stay behind after class so we could deal with my issue of not being able to draw. When the classroom was empty except for the two of us, she slapped a pencil and a piece of paper down on the desk in front of me.

“Draw a straight line,” she said.

I drew.

“See that. I asked you to draw a line and you did it.”

“Anyone can draw a line,” I said. “But I can’t draw pictures.”

“Maybe not,” she continued, “but you didn’t say ‘I can’t draw pictures.’ You said ‘I can’t draw.’ And we just proved that you can draw. You may not draw as well as you’d like to, but you CAN draw.

I don’t even remember who my fifth grade teacher was, but every now and again, especially when I’m doing graphics or anything artistic, I hear her voice saying “You may not do it as well as you’d like to, but you can do this.”

And that brings us to coloring pages.

I love to color. But I found that I love creating images even more. So I set about creating images with great enthusiasm. Except that just like my fifth grade art class, I found myself comparing my designs to the other artists, and telling myself I couldn’t do it. And again I heard my old teacher’s voice. “You may not do it as well as you’d like to, but you CAN do it.”

This applies to a lot more than just creating coloring pages. It really applies to my whole life. Being so much younger than everyone else really did a number on my self-esteem. Confidence has always been a big deal for me and it’s something I have to work on every day. Whether it’s in an interaction on social media, or putting a product out for sale, or just talking to the clerk at the grocery store I have to remind myself every day that I CAN do this.

To be honest with you, I am really nervous about putting these out here. But I’m doing it anyways because I know I will get better. While I’ll probably never be as good as a lot of the coloring book creators out there, I am good enough to offer you some of the pages and hope that you get as much joy out of coloring them as I got out of making them for you.

And I would add to the lesson I learned as a youngster. “I’m not as good as I’d like to be right now, but each page I create is better than the one before.”

Wanna see? Click the button below to download 6 free images to print and color.

DOWNLOAD FREE COLORING PAGES

Do you journal? Share your thoughts in the comments below…

The Myths of Self-Care: Busting the Self-Care is Selfish and Other Myths Once and For All

Women face a lot of hurdles when it comes to taking care of ourselves. And one of the biggest hurdles is the stories we tell ourselves about self-care and why we can’t do it. In this post I’m going to share what I see as the five biggest myths that block of from the self-care we deserve, and how they just aren’t true.

I hope this gives you some ideas on how you can debunk these myths for yourself and start caring for yourself just as much as you care for others around you.

Myth #1 – Self Care is Selfish

This is probably the most insidious of all the self-care myths, so let’s just get it out of the way right from the start.

Self-care is NOT selfish!

Taking care of yourself and making sure you’re healthy in body, mind, and spirit means that then, and only then, do you really have enough energy to enjoy your own life and take care of others around you. Whether it’s family, friends, or community members that you’re helping and caring for, if you’re not caring for yourself first, you really aren’t giving them the best you have to offer.

Myth #2 – Self-Care Takes Up Too Much Time

Another reason we tell ourselves we can’t practice self-care is that we don’t have the time for it.

Not true.

Your self-care routine does not have to take hours our of your day and be so complicated that you dread it.

Should you set aside time for yourself each day? Absolutely.

But that self-care can be as simple as a quiet cup of tea in the morning. Or a few minutes to write a line in your journal. It can even be as simple as picking up a treat for yourself at the grocery store. (Personally, my favorite is a bar of dark chocolate with raspberries.)

Keep your self-care simple and it will become second-nature in no time.

Myth #3 – Self-Care Is Whatever Makes Me Feel Good

Be careful with this one, because it’s a bit of a slippery slope. Not everything that makes you feel good is really good for you. For example, drinking your troubles away might make you feel good in the moment, but it’s not really taking care of yourself. Same goes for all that ice-cream you might have in your freezer… Believe me, it’s not the answer to your problems. See what I mean?

The trick to good self-care is finding things that make you feel good AND keep your health and energy up.

Which brings me to the next myth…

Myth #4 – Self-Care Costs Too Much

Answer me this… How many times have you wanted to do something for yourself, but you’ve talked yourself out of it because you think self-care is way too expensive. It all comes from putting other people first and not thinking you deserve to have what you need. I do this all the time and it’s a very hard habit to break (more on that in another post).

Back to busting this myth… Self-care does not have to cost an arm and a leg. You don’t need to buy pricey gourmet food or join a fancy gym to take care of yourself well. You can cook good, wholesome meals at home, go for walks outside, and find other inexpensive ways to practice self-care.

For example, one of my favorite self-care treats is a cup of tea and a good book. My tea is about $3 a box at the grocery store, and my books are often free or 99-cent kindle books. And the half-hour that I take for myself to read and enjoy my tea is my favorite part of the day.

Myth #5 – Self-Care Has to Be Perfect

The final myth we’re going to tackle today is the one that says our self-care has to be perfect or it’s not worth doing.

I just have one question for you… Perfect for who?

The only person your self-care has to be perfect for is you!

You don’t have to tailor it to fit someone else’s idea of self-care, whether it’s your friends, family members, or the latest ideas in that magazine you picked up. Your yoga pants and mat don’t have to match, and as we’ve already touched on, you don’t have to create some complicated routine that makes you dread your own ‘me time’.

Self-care is just that… you taking care of yourself, and doing what makes you feel good and gives you the energy and the sense of well-being that gets you through your days.

Wrapping Up

I hope this has shown you how easy it is to debunk some of the more common myths of self-care that are floating around.

Set a goal to eliminate these myths from your mindset and really start rocking your own self-care practice!

You’re worth it!

What’s your favorite way to practice self-care? Share in the comments below…

Changing Up Your Routine For Better Productivity

Since I’m starting a new 100-day challenge today, I need to also change up my daily routine in order to fit daily blogging into my schedule. So I thought that we could start by looking at why it’s better to have a routine for your workday, especially when you work at home and have multiple things that have to get done in a day.

I’ve always been pretty resistant to the idea of a routine, but I know that when I have a reasonably set schedule it’s a lot easier to get everything done. When I wake up without a clear idea of what I’m going to do, I have a nice relaxing breakfast, read a little, and maybe if I’m lucky, I get to work by about noon.

The truth is, whether we want to accept it or not, we are hard-wired to have a daily routine. We like to eat at certain times, sleep at certain times, and work at certain times. When your work requires you to be creative, it’s easy to let that last one slide and have work overpower everything else in your life.

And this causes stress and overwhelm because we’re always rushing from one thing to the next. Or spending so much time on the creative part of our work, everything else falls by the wayside.

Having a Routine Allows You To Make Better Business Predictions

Having a routine allows you to predict your day, at least to a certain extent.

A daily routine lets you plan your day in a way that makes the best use of your time for you and your business. Having a schedule also makes it easier to predict income and expenses too, especially if you do client work. Setting up your schedule to have set billable hours means you know roughly what kind of income you are looking at for the month.

When you know what kind of money you have coming in, you take a huge load of stress off your plate too.

Your Routine Doesn’t Have To Be Overly Complicated

Planning your day and creating routines gives you the space and the freedom to make good choices every day.

Your schedule doesn’t have to be overly complicated. For example, my daily schedule looks a little like this:

Morning – Creative work (journal and coloring kit production)
Walk the dog
Afternoon – Networking, me-time
Walk the dog
Evening – Blogging and Technical Stuff

The actual tasks that fit into those time blocks will vary depending on what I have going on. And if there’s deadlines to be met, I can change things around as needed.

It’s also important to remember that the actions you add into your routines should help to make a difference in your business and your life. You should always be working toward a goal of some sort so that you will know when the work you’re doing is producing results, and when it’s time to change things up again.

What Will You Get Out of Setting Up a Workday Routine?

The benefits of creating a workday routine that works for you are many. Here are just a few example of what you can do when you have a routine:

spend more time with family
have more time with friends
decide which work is most important
figure out what to outsource
decide which tasks can be automated
get more done each day
understand what really matters to you
make more money

I don’t know about you, but I kind of like the sound of all of that. Life’s too short to be chained to your computer all day every day just because you’re not working as smart as you could be.

Creating smart routines that work for you is a powerful solution for living your best life, whether you run your own business or work at a job. We are all creatures of habit and once we accept that, it gets a whole lot easier to create healthy habits that allow you to be more productive and more creative.

Do you have a workday routine that helps you be more productive? Share your favorite tips in the comments below.

What Does Your Workday Routine Look Like?

We all have routines, even when we don’t label them as such. Unless you work in an environment where everyone is mandated to do the same thing at the same time every day, no one person’s routine is going to look the same as another’s.

One trap that many people fall into is thinking that you’re being productive when you’re really focused on busy work that fills up time but doesn’t get you any closer to your goals.

Knowing how you’ve created your work routine and acknowledging whether it works or doesn’t work is the first step in changing your routine so that you can be more productive.

There are several things you can do to analyze your current routine. Here are four ways to get started.

#1 – Journal Your Day

You can’t know what’s working or not working if you don’t actually know what you’re doing. Mindfulness plays a huge part in productivity, and being intentional in your choices really helps.

But before you start to change things, take a week to journal your days so that you can see exactly what you’re doing, when you’re doing it, and any thoughts and feelings you have about it.

Using a bullet journal to do this can really help because of it’s premise of rapid logging… a quick note each time you switch tasks or stop to do something non-work related can give you a really clear picture of how your day flows.

#2 – Be Honest With Yourself

If you really want to create a routine that works for you, you must be honest with yourself.

When you look at your schedule, you need to decide whether what you’re doing is productive and produces results, is busy work, or is just wasting time.

#3 – Pay Attention to Interruptions

If you work from home, it’s natural that there are other things going on in the background. These are important too because they can affect your mindset as well as your time use.

Things to notice include:

What are other family members doing?
What’s on the tv? The radio?
Is your phone always pinging away in the background?
Are your kids and/or dogs pushing for attention?

All of these things can slow you down and play havoc with your schedule, but they’re a normal part of your life and so can not be discounted when planning your new routine.

#4 – How Does Your Day Make You Feel?

I think that one of the biggest reasons we become creative soulpreneurs is because we want to do what we love and make a living from it. We want less stress and more happiness in our lives.

Make sure you record in your journal exactly how your day makes you feel. And then don’t be afraid to change things up or let go of systems and processes that just aren’t working for you.

Without a system that works well for you, it’s hard to not feel stressed, bothered, and just plain cranky about your workday routine. When your workdays make you feel this way, then it starts to feel like just another job instead of the dream business you are trying to build.

Final Thoughts

When it comes right down to it, a routine that works for you is freeing. It feels like you have more time and are getting a lot more done.

So, now that you’ve recorded your week, take some time to look over what you’ve got and decide what works, what doesn’t, what you can change, and what you can let go of.

The idea is to create a new routine or at least tweak the existing one to give you the results you need to achieve the goals you set for yourself and your business.

Create What Makes Your Heart Happy

What do you think of when someone tells you to create what makes your heart happy?

Do you even know what it is that makes your heart sing? And if it’s not something you have yet, would you have any idea of how to going about creating it?

I’ve been pondering these questions for awhile now, ever since I started using the phrase “Create what makes your heart happy” as the sign off on my daily newsletter.

You see, in my “other” life, I run a site that caters to people who make journals and planners and other low-content products. I create things like coloring pages and journal templates that they can take and turn into their own products to sell. And so telling them to create what makes their heart happy is easy… I want them to take what I’m sharing with them and actually create products that make them happy, because when you are happy with what you’re creating, it’s so much easier to put it out there to sell.

But lately I’ve been thinking about creating from a whole life point of view, not just as a creative soulpreneur. And I’ve decided that what truly makes my heart happy in this moment is writing this blog, and sharing with you the joys of doing what really makes your heart happy.

For me, that’s writing and creating beautiful journals and planners to inspire and uplift you. I’ve even got a free one you can check out when you sign up for my newsletter list.

But that’s just the business part of me.

So what if what makes my heart happy is something completely unrelated to the act of physically creating a piece of art, or a journal or any other type of physical object?

I don’t know about you, but I have a whole list of things for my life that I’d like to create, and every single one of them would make my heart sing with joy! I’

This is one of the things that I want to explore with this new blog. I want to play with the notion of creating what makes your heart happy, no matter what that looks like for you. And for me.

I’ve come to the conclusion that creating doesn’t have to be about making art, but it can be. It can also be about creating the best life for you, the relationships that lift you up and empower you, the home you spend your time in, the way you spend your time, and a whole host of other things.

I’m looking forward to playing with those ideas. And I’m looking forward to playing with you too!

What will you create that makes your heart happy?