Back in 2017, I made a 60 year timeline to prove to myself that it was ok to not be creative until my daughter hit middle school age or graduated high school. I had convinced myself that it was a good idea to wait until I "had more time" to make my art because it was too hard to do it and take care of the family, the house and all the stay-at-home mom things.

As I mapped out the age of myself, my husband, my daughter, our projected 2nd baby's age, my Mom, Dad, Mother-in-law and Father-in-law...I quickly saw the truth staring me in the face. Unless I planned to disown my family and live like a hermit in the woods, there would NEVER be an open window of time.

It was a bit morbid, but I mapped out every detail and saw major life events, milestones, and projected health issues stack up onto each other in the timeline. 

 

College hunting with first child

High school graduation parties 

Mom's 75th birthday party 

Dad's failing health 

2nd child college hunting 

2nd child high school graduation 

Mother-in-law's failing health 

1st child's college graduation 

Father-in-law failing health 

1st child wedding 

Father passes away 

2nd child wedding 

1st child has kids 

Mother passes away 

2nd child has kids 

the list goes on...

 

Seeing all of these events really stopped me in my tracks.

For the first time I saw the proof that I simply could NOT wait on my dreams. I saw that actually THIS window of time, while my kids are young, is the most open it's going to get. 

 

 

I saw my death and everything in-between 

 

On my timeline, I mapped out that I would die at age 108, in the year 2090. I didn't do the math to see how many years were between then and now to see 'how productive I could be." Instead, I saw that each passing year was an opportunity to figure out how to fit some semblance of art-making, even if it wasn't perfect, into my day, and that each day would build on the last and over time, what I was slowly, methodically, gently, compassionately working on would unfold into my beautiful life.

This 60 year timeline I made in 2017 was the start of a mindset shift that took years to process. I didn't start taking actual action until 3 years later in 2020 after a bunch of personal development work. A lot of people say, "the time is now," or "seize the moment" and while I agree with this sentiment, I would say, "start softly and do what you can with the time that you have."

 

Listen to my podcast episode about this here

 

If this resonates with you, and I invite you to enroll in 100 Epic Days! CLICK HERE to learn more

 

Good luck to us all as we push through our resistance and continue the practices that are changing our lives!

- epic bones