Creating Recovery Rituals That Get You Back on Track.

The lovely part about travel is that being out of your normal environment has the power to inspire new ways of seeing and thinking. The awful part about being away from home is that upon our return we realize we've suffered a huge loss of momentum. As much fun as I had last month planning my first event for Baang and Burne Contemporary, getting back home and getting started is always really hard for me.

Luckily, over the years I've created a Recovery Ritual that I could put in place to make getting back to work a bit easier, and automatic. A Recovery Ritual is any set of habits you use to re-group and recover from a situation that has managed to make you lose your focus or that has thrown your life out of alignment.

No two Recovery Ritual are alike, but here is my personal 3 step process:

Rest, Recuperate, Reflect

This seems obvious, but when I was younger I'd try to get back to work even if I wasn't physically or emotionally healthy and ready. Any Recovery Ritual should include an adequate rest period. You can't hit the ground running at top speed if you are tired or sick. If you're jetlagged give yourself time to hydrate and get back to normal sleeping patterns. If you're recovering from an illness, take it easy and take care of your physical needs until you are truly ready to get back to work. If you are recovering from a major emotion trauma of some kind, honor that reality by giving yourself time to process what you've been through. Take time to reflect on the experience. There is no way to rush this process. It's true that we all want to get back to work as fast as possible and be as productive as we can, but sometimes we need to just slow down!

"CannonBall" It

You know when you were a kid how you'd run like a bat outta hell and jump right into that ice cold swimming pool rather than inch into the water one toenail at a time? That's pretty much how I get back to work in my studio after a hiatus. I don't pick an idea or an image and then do a few sketches. I pick an idea or image and I do FIFTY drawings in a row, all in one sitting. And if that doesn't work, I do 50 more. I do this because it works. Nothing erases worry, or self doubt faster than a 6 inch high pile of freshly finished drawings. Also I'm an Aries and I do everything head first.

Perhaps if you're a runner who has fallen off the wagon and are trying to get back in shape, jumping up one morning and deciding to run a marathon probably isn't the best approach. But perhaps you could do something like, physically go to your local bookstore and buy a book on training for a marathon, or go buy copies of 3 different running magazines. The idea here is to produce movement and to get energy and ideas flowing. And the energy is in the going and the doing. So go, and do.

Rejoice!

Once I begin to get even the slightest bit of movement and momentum back, I always celebrate it. Hear this: Life is just better when you celebrate even the smaller accomplishments. After I finish my 50 drawings, I usually head down to my favorite bar and meet up with a few friends to drink a bottle of rosé.

I do this for two reasons: One, because art-making can be lonely and isolating work, so it's good to get out of your studio, out of your own head, and stop taking yourself so seriously. And secondly because I live in France and that's just what we do. One other extra added bonus to this step in my Recovery Ritual is that when my friends casually ask me, what I did today, I get to reply "I finished 50 new drawings." And they get all super impressed and I get to feel like a major bad-ass and with just cause. Plus just hearing myself say this always lifts my spirits. Or maybe it's the rosé doing it's work. Either way, whatever your career path, if there's no joy or space for rejoicing, my friend, you're doing it wrong.

Over to you:

What are your recovery rituals?

What do you do to get back on track when you've lost focus?