Week 16: The Myth of “I Don’t Have Time”

Life is busy (kids, caretaking, endless to-dos) and it’s easy to push creativity aside. But your delight is not frivolous – it’s fuel. In this episode, we explore how to gently reclaim time for yourself through wise-mind practices, the five-whys journaling prompt, and nervous-system resets that turn micro-moments into momentum. From simply holding your sketchbook to rediscovering old joys like piano or crochet, we talk about rebuilding safety, releasing guilt, and letting delight reconnect you to yourself, your community, and your joy.

Thank you so much for listening.

If you know someone who needs this kind of gentle nudge, send it their way. The more kind, creative hearts in this space, the better.

And if something in this episode resonates or makes you smile, come say hi on Instagram @theartpeaceexperiment 🤍

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:03

Welcome to the Art Peace Experiment. We're your hosts, two artists and friends. I'm Tasha. And I'm Brianna. At the end of 2024, we decided we wanted to cultivate more safety, peace, love, alignment, and excitement through our art and our art practices. So here we are sharing our journey with you. And we're so excited you're here. We hope you enjoy our conversations. They're honest, raw, just just two friends talking to each other about the realities of life and creativity. We're so excited for you to join us and be along with us for the journey. Have you ever wanted to paint something or crochet or learn to make sourdough or anything creative and tell yourself, I don't have time? Yes. What? Me too. I may have done that once or twice, yeah. Yeah, I feel like this is a constant problem, especially when you have children. yeah it's yeah I find myself doing that literally every day like all the time I'm like no I can't do it right now I don't have time I don't have time you make all the excuses you have to go get dinner you know like all the things yeah that's been a little bit rough this week because it's been the first week of summer break for our kids first week of summer it's so fun it's such a fun time to finally be out of school and miss the freedom to do anything you know we can go we can do All the things we've been waiting to do, but then... the time for personal time is a lot shorter. And yeah. And so that's difficult. It's difficult to make time for yourself, especially like if you have little kids or if it's summer or, you know. You're in school. If you've got a busy job. Working full time. Yeah. I mean, you have a spouse. Everybody's busy. If you're taking care of busy. How busy are you? Does it make you dizzy? Yeah. Yeah. Caretaker of any Yeah. Right. Yeah. It's very productivity based. If your art or creative practice isn't making money or having some kind of outside value, then we tend to make the excuses of not being able to show up because we feel like other people are going to make the excuses and feel that way. There's a lot of judgment, I feel like, that we feel Even without, even by just the thought, the mere thought of doing something that doesn't have an outward quote unquote value, you know, doesn't have anything to show the world the value of if it's just for us. Right. you know, whatever to take that time, then it starts disconnecting us from our community because they have that judgment because they have, you know, the outward pressure being put on us. It's like, you are going to lose your tribe and your nervous system is like, that's not allowed. Yeah. Yeah. That puts you in danger zone. Right. That means, yeah, that means bad. Right. That means scary. That means not safe. And so, yeah, absolutely. It are, are, because we're so trained in our culture to be productive, to do things that are pleasing to others. You know, I don't know. There's so many things. Yeah. And so when we're trying to do something that's just for us, there's a lot of resistance. Yeah. There's a lot of resistance. And so our brains come up with all the excuses, all the other things that we could be doing instead that would be better. Yeah. Yeah. So now, you know, this week I've feel like we also have that pressure of you know i mean for us personally of like how do we keep showing up for our kids and how do we keep showing up for ourselves at the same time man this is the question how do we do both yeah um and i think we're going to talk more about how that's going for us at our check-in this week because we've we're going to practice it we're going to practice it and like we're going to try and figure it out yeah I mean, showing up for recording and showing up for creating both is like, okay, we've committed to this experiment for 52 weeks and that includes summer break. So here we are. We're going to just keep going. We're just going to keep going. Yeah. One thing I did want to talk about though is, I mean, just making space, making time, making space. We all are capable of that. And I think there's some different things that can help can help with that I mean first is just the thought of I want to yeah right and holding space for that thought yeah I feel like that's the first step like what is that thing that is exciting you

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yeah

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that you're wanting to show up for but you're making the excuses like first just recognizing that and just holding your space holding that space for yourself of like okay it makes sense that I'm having these feelings that I'm having these thoughts yeah that I have this resistance It makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. Not that it's necessarily okay because we don't want to like maintain those thoughts and that resistance. Right. But it makes sense that you have it. Yeah. It makes sense that it's there. Yeah. Recognizing it and looking at it with compassion, looking at yourself with compassion and those blocks and that resistance and the, you know, procrastination or whatever tactics we're doing to put off the thing that we actually want to be doing yeah I think that's really the first step is is recognizing that we're doing that that is so hard it's so hard sometimes to even just see it right and so if you see it then you're already doing great job yeah that's woohoo you did it you know like you're on the way that's good and so and if you're just realizing it now as we're talking about this that's great we're so proud of you yeah you're so this is wonderful so that's that's literally the first step and it's such an important step. Like you can't do anything without that. You have to, you have to recognize it first. You have to hold space for that thought and, and recognize I have this desire to create or to do whatever, you know, to do something, to, to dance, to play the piano, to, you know, do a thing and I'm not doing it. Yeah. And recognize that the desire is, is a good one, right? It's okay. That is worthy. Like there's so much work just even around that to do. Yeah. And a lot of times. And so, um, taking time, time to do that and taking space for that and meeting yourself with love where you're at. Right. It's really, really great work and really important. And so then holding that space and then recognizing the blocks and what you're actually, what you're actually doing, like paying attention to what you're, what you do. Like when you have, when you have that thought of a desire, like, Oh, I kind of want to do this. And then Notice what happens. What happens when you have that desire and you're like, maybe I want to do that right now. Yeah. Does your mind go to like, oh, but I have laundry. I got to go do the dishes. Oh, I have this. I can't do that. What happens? Right? That's the next step. Yep. Yep. And then maybe journaling about it. Yeah. Like what's the next thing that happens? Okay. Then I start making all these other excuses. Why? Why? Yeah. Why? Why? why why are you why why did these things come up why is this happening why are you thinking this way you know and get really clear and like maybe go back in your past like what happened did someone say something to you yeah that caused these thoughts to come up or these feelings or you know this uh like this mindset right where are these limiting beliefs like what are the root dig deep yeah because it's like the ask why five times i've heard i've heard a very variety of versions of this like do it three times you know go three three wise back go five wise back or go ten wise back you know however long you want to go but ask you know you recognize you have the resistance yeah and then say why why do I have this resistance and then it's like oh because I feel this why right because this happened or you know because it makes me feel this way why you know like go go back act curious keep asking yourself keep trying to figure it out and and understand what's actually really going on. And that is so helpful.

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It's

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so helpful in being able to understand the things that's going on in your body and your nervous system, you know, automatic thoughts that are coming up and then be able to actually do something to change it, you know, and meet each, meet each, why each question, each answer with compassion again, gentleness and kindness. You know, it's not a criticism. No, that's that's not going to help. Yeah. We all fall into that trap sometimes, but that's not going to help. Yeah. That'll just, that'll just put up the anxiety and, you know, blocks even, even more. So yeah, that's super important to when you're doing this, when you're asking yourself these questions to, to do it in love, to do it in compassion, to do it in curiosity rather than judgment or criticism. Right. Right. And then when you get to that root, when you start figuring it out, you know, once again, coming back to holding your, holding that space for yourself and saying, it makes sense. It makes sense that you feel that way. It's like talking to a friend. Just pretend you're talking to yourself like you're talking to a friend. Yeah. Or, you know, child or child, like child you. Cause a lot of times these things go back and start from in childhood. Yeah. Um, when, when our nervous system is, is building that, like what is safe, what is not safe, what keeps me connected,

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what

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doesn't, you know, what What do I have to let go of? Yeah. To stay, to, to keep my community, to keep my people. That's the foundation that we, we build on is, is in childhood. And so it goes through, you know, our whole, our whole lives. Yeah. Yeah. So in that space, in that, you know, looking back at ourselves as, as little kids and what happened and, you know, that can be so powerful and so helpful. Yeah. And then the next step is realizing, you know, bring it to the present. Yeah. realizing like, is, is this actually true? Right. Like through all the, all the questions of why, like, are any of these things actually true? I mean, yeah, sure. Maybe, maybe you do need to do laundry at some point, but like, do you need to do laundry so severely that you don't have five minutes to like breathe and take a moment with yourself and like doodle something? Like, is the world going to end? Is like, is that actually true? Yeah. You know, just ask those questions, like bring it to the present and be really, really real with yourself and coming to it from that more wise mind state rather than the limiting belief, chaotic mind state. Yes, 100%. I love that. I love, I love the idea of the wise mind because there's like different levels, right? And different parts of your brain and it's all very scientific and all the things, but But, um, you know, there's more of like the emotional, emotional state and the nervous system. I feel like runs a lot on, on emotions and fears and things like that. Right. Cause it's trying to keep us safe. Right. Right. And, um, and so that's a lot of times where we operate. Yes. And, um, it's so empowering to realize that we don't have to operate from that place all the time. Um, like it's, it's built into our systems it's there for a reason it's good you know it serves as a purpose but we don't have to stay in it all the time we can be in our in our wise minds right which is more of the logical and it's it's taking the logical analytical side of thinking and the emotional side of thinking and looking at both that's what the wise mind is and so making decisions it's kind of like from a bird's eye view like you're up high seeing the situation a little bit you know a little more clearly a little more clearly from both from both sides so yeah making trying to get into that zone is uh yeah is really helpful when trying to move through blocks and trying to heal from all of these things and and uh actually move forward yeah and pay attention to what emotions come up where they are in your body what it feels like like journal that too yeah What, what's actually coming up, what you're actually feeling. I had a conversation with my daughter about this the other day that a lot of the times we try to think our feelings instead of feel our feelings. And sometimes we need the clarity of thought, you know, and to get, and to get through it. And then times we need, we're like, we need to just feel, let ourselves actually feel and not think our feelings. Yeah. I, I love that because sometimes we just like think and think and think, and we think that we're our thinking will problem solve us out of feeling whatever we're feeling instead of actually taking the time to yeah to feel it doom spiraling instead of actually working through like actually feeling it and like working through the actual problem right yeah I am I could be professional at this if that could be a career and could be paid for it I would be I would be very wealthy I know Well, I would be, I would, I would be right there with you. you know, all of these principles and things and ideas about the wise mind and about how you can take control. And, you know, just, I don't know, it takes a lot of effort and it's conscious, but it is possible. It is possible 100%. And when you actually are able to, to hop into that mindset and those that awareness, then it's so it's, I remember the first time that I actually really really did that and it was like just a few years ago you know it wasn't very long ago right I was an adult with a child right and so but the first time that I was actually able to do that it was like oh my gosh I just did that like I just had the bird's eye view thing and I like I saw it clearly and I was able to like control my reaction instead of like I chose how I reacted instead of just reacting right you know emotionally yeah and And so I responded instead of reacted and it was so empowering and it was amazing, you know, and I was like, I don't do this more, but it's really hard and it takes a lot of practice and it's slow going and I'm not perfect at it. So me neither. You want to always think your feelings. You want to feel your feelings. We can't think our nervous systems into safety. It doesn't work that way. Our nervous systems don't learn through our thoughts. They learn through our experiences. Yeah, through our physical experience, body experience. So it's important to go through the– at least we found it's important to go through the exercise of actually being thoughtful and mindful and kind of figuring out the root cause of the limiting beliefs and what's really going on so we can hold that space for ourselves and that gentleness and compassion but then alongside that it's so important to actually take action and I don't mean jump straight into the deep end before having swimming lessons I mean taking small baby steps yeah and the small baby steps are going to grow and build and get you to where you want to go on your journey whereas if you just jump straight in sometimes, then you kind of sink and have a hard time. Keep going. You're like, wait, I can't tread water yet. I don't know how to do this. I agree. I think sometimes that first action step is literally just taking a deep breath. Taking a deep breath, resetting your nervous system. It really is a physical thing. Doing those physical things like deep breathing exercises relaxing your muscles in your body you know like physically telling your signaling your body yeah I am safe like breathing slower right when you breathe slower that signals to your to your body that you are in a safe place you're safe right yeah when you relax your muscles that signals to your body you are in a safe place right so there's things that you can actually do physically like that that that help retrain your nerve Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That retrains your nervous system that this is okay. This is safe. This is relaxing. This is good for me.

SPEAKER_01: 20:54

This

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is a thriving thing and not a survival like, ah, you know, scary thing. This is good. Right. Right. And maybe it's, you know, sitting at the place that you're going to be doing the creative thing. Yeah. You don't even do anything with it yet. Yeah. Doesn't end up having to look like anything, but you're just there moving. Yeah. Yeah. You're moving up, moving, using your body, you know, using your movement and being there. Yeah. And then recognizing like, oh my gosh, I did the thing. I was there. I did it. I spent time there and I'm okay. Yes. Like the world didn't end. I didn't die. I didn't die. didn't die I'm still connected to my people yeah like it's okay yeah yeah and then the next day or the next week whether it's a weekly thing you're doing or a daily thing you're doing doesn't matter and just that consistency of showing up again and again and again and taking those little steps it's gonna grow yeah it'll slowly start to feel better and better and you'll want to do more and more and it'll feel more exciting and it'll feel better that's this is what we found, both of us, and what we're practicing in the experiment. And so we can honestly say that it does work. It does help. It does. Yeah. It does help. Sometimes it feels really silly to just sit there and hold the sketchbook and like, I don't know what I'm doing. And then sometimes you get to that point of like, okay, my child's nap time just ended and I didn't actually draw anything i just held it and i'm a failure because i didn't actually produce anything it's like no no you you showed up for yourself you sat there you held it that's all you could do today that's okay you were still there for yourself you know you were still there and maybe tomorrow you will end up drawing something yeah you know it's it's building that foundation right it's building that foundation of safety and peace and and uh alignment and you know? Yeah. And showing up just in the act of, I want to be doing this. I want to be journaling. I want to be painting. I want to be, you know, sitting at the piano, even if you don't play anything, but like I'm here, this is important to me. Right. Right. I want to, I want to do this and I want to have this in my life and just sitting and appreciating that, you know, appreciating that desire and that thing and, and kind of, embodying that again you know a lot of times I think we have something that we love and then as we grow older we kind of let go of it this is what happened with for me with piano and with art yeah I was like that was my life you know I did it every day all like all the time like I would come home from school I'd play the piano you know it was just like that was my thing yeah and and then I grew up out of the house and went to college and got married and you know and it was still really important and I wanted to have a piano in our home you know like I really wanted but I wasn't I wasn't actually playing the piano and there were a lot of blocks that came up and you know just the things that happened that that blocked blocked that but um coming back to it I mean this has been more of a recent thing too with um probably since the experiment too has been helping helping me come back into remembering my love for it, you know, remembering, Oh, I used to sit and I used to play piano for hours. And when I would hear a piano song, you know, a song, I would be so moved and, and remembering those feelings. Right. And then that helps me to like feel it again. Yeah. Even if I'm not, even if I'm not playing,

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but

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just sitting and having that remembering. Yeah. And connecting with myself again like that. It's powerful. Even though I'm not, you know, I love like sitting at my piano or even like if I'm sitting and looking at my piano and thinking about it, right? Sometimes I don't have the capacity to go play or like I can't actually go play because I'm doing something else or whatever. But, you know, being in that mindset. Right. And remembering is really powerful too. The power of memory and of thoughts and connecting with yourself, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like that's been one of the, the first big surprises we had with this experiment is, um, coming back to that, like delight, what delights us, what excites us, what lights us up and realizing how much we'd been suppressing that. It was like, Oh, Whoa. Whoa. I wasn't expecting that to be like one of the first like revelations and, and things that we realized, like we need to come back to this and start building around allowing that, allowing delight. Yeah. And joy and ourselves to be like ourselves. Yeah. How important that is in being ourselves. Exactly. It was a little mind-breaking. Yeah. Which, yeah, it, it's so funny to talk about it and say it now, you know, to think, well, yeah, of course the things that you delight in would be, you know, you know, something that is important for you to be connected to. But yeah, I don't know. It's, it, it just happens. It happens all the time and we suppress things and we put things to the side and we let things go, you know. Yeah. Trying to fit in, trying to be in a certain role, you know, what, what other people need us to be. And we start losing ourselves. It's easy. Yeah. Easy to do. So taking back ownership of ourselves and of our delights and our things that light us up and really make us ourselves, you know, and feel joy and feel our light inside. That is so important. Yeah. And it's so beautiful. It's so beautiful because when we are connected to ourselves like that and we're connected to our inner light and our inner, you know, like joy, then we are able to show up so much better in the world. Yeah. I, I found like in our friendship, I'm able to show up better with my daughter. I'm able to show up better with the other relationships I have. Um, and I've had other friends and people notice and be like, Oh, same. Like, like you feel more happy and lighter and more like you. And this is nice. This is like, I'm so, I'm so happy to be with you right now because you feel so much more you. I, my, my, my other best friend. Um, I was, I was telling her about all of this for the first time, you know, and, um, I was getting really excited and passionate. She started crying because she was like, you just lit up so much and you, you felt like you, you know, and it was so beautiful to see. Um, and it's powerful. Yeah. It's powerful. And you're more energized, right? That's a big one. That makes a difference. And we're excited to get up every day yeah so it makes it's it makes a huge difference and it really is so impactful and so important yeah I find it interesting that we do tend to suppress and hold ourselves back in order to stay connected with community and yet as we've been letting that go we found more connection isn't that interesting yeah yeah I feel like as we're trying to pretzel ourselves mold ourselves into what we think you know our community would want us to be yeah we end up distancing ourselves from right because we're not being ourselves yeah then how do we have genuine connection and relationship exactly exactly we can't actually connect yeah in a real way yeah when we're not being our real selves fascinating i love it well if you want to hear how we survive the first week of summer and make time for our creativity check into our check out our next episode because we're We will talk about it. And if you want more ideas on how to make more time and space for creativity, hacks or whatever, let us know. Yeah. And we'll talk about that in a future episode. Yeah. So try to remember, take time for yourself. You do have time and it's important and you are worth it. We'll see you next time. That's it for today, friend. Thanks for spending this time with us. We hope you're leaving with a little more light, a little more peace, and maybe even a nudge to go be creative just because it brings a little more joy to your life. If anything in this episode spoke to your heart, sparked a thought, or made you smile, we'd love it if you'd follow the show, leave a quick five-star review, or share it with someone who might need a little creative encouragement too. And remember, your creativity matters. Your voice matters. You matter. We're cheering you on always. Until next time, keep making, keep softening, and keep showing up as your whole beautiful self.