I know what it is like. There is that tiny little voice inside. It is like a small child tugging at your sleeve. There are things she would like to do. Paint. Draw. Bake cupcakes. Write that novel. Start learning to play the guitar. (I'm kiddding... obviously its a ukulele she wants...) She gets quite excited about these things. It we are honest, she has been wanting to do these things for quite some time. But you always have an excuse for her. Do any of these sound familiar?

That little inner voice that tells you to write that novel or paint won't go away, will it? What are your best excuses for avoiding your creative project?

We don't have time

Yes, you are busy. Of course you are. But you still have some control over how you spend at least a portion of your day. If an emergency arises or a friend pops in to visit unexpectedly you will probably manage to shuffle things around and still get everything done that you need to. And if we are honest, even 15 minutes a day doing this thing that your inner voice won't give up on can be enough to make significant progress on your project if you can be consistent with it.

We have more important things to do right now

By important, you mean not fun, right? There is a danger that we can start thinking that life is hard, that important things are difficult, that the good things in life are only acquired through struggle. So if you are doing something that is easy and fun, it must therefore not be important or worthwhile.

best excuses for avoiding your creative project

We need to spend our time doing something more useful

Discounting a project on the grounds that it is trivial and time wasting is an easy trap to fall into. The thing is, that little voice is still nagging you, isn't she? Even if you avoid your project in favour of something practical (like the laundry, shopping around for a better insurance policy, or some other tedious, grown up, but very 'useful' chore) you are not fully present to it. Part of you can't shake the doubt that you are letting yourself down. Is this thing going to be on your list till the day you die?

We could, but we don't have the right supplies

Ah yes. You would start that novel, but you just need to wait until you get a new notebook from Typo.

You already have all you need.

Just start. You will be glad you did.

We are a bit old for that, aren't we?

So is that it then? It's all over? If we didn't start this thing young or get it out of our systems before we grew up it's too late?

Did ice cream stop tasting good because you stopped being a child?

If it was fun then, it is probably still fun now. And it is never too late to learn something new. Better do it today, because tomorrow you will be even older...

We are not very good at that

Now we are getting to the heart of the matter. This is fear.

We tend to think that we will be judged, scorned or humiliated if we attempt to do something that we are not totally adept at. This still seems to be the case even if we are doing something totally private like drawing in a sketchbook that we have no intention of sharing. We are protecting that inner child from criticism. But we are also eliminating the chance of new experiences and the acquisition of new skills not to mention the fun you might have in the process.

We are not really 'creative'

Oh yes we are. Just look at how many imaginative excuses we came up to avoid having to face our fears and do this creative project (which we actually really want to do).

No matter which one of these excuses you tend to use, or how many you combine, you have not managed to dismiss that little voice. So you may as well just heed that creative calling.

Life is finite.

Don't miss your chance to do these things that you can't stop thinking about.