I spent much of New Year’s Day riding in the back of a minivan with a white-and-brown-spotted dog on my lap, watching the wintry Midwestern landscape pass by at 75 mph. The kids were occupied, my ill mother-in-law sat in the front seat chatting with my husband, I had nothing to do but let my mind wander.

Do you know how rare that is for me? How wonderful?

I got out of the car feeling relaxed, rejuvenated and — unexpectedly — creative. I’m always multi-tasking. I’m always doing, doing, doing, going, going, going. But that day, seat-belted in, covered in a snoring dog’s fur, I couldn’t. Instead, I daydreamed, I counted pockets of snow in north-facing ditches, I watched groups of little birds swoop and dive with amoeba-like fluidity, I hummed random ’80s songs, I thought about new story ideas and my WIP.

That long car ride refilled my creative tank. For 2017, I’d like to resolve to take (or create) opportunities like that more often. So here are my resolutions for nourishing my creative soul this year:

• Play piano more often. Play Bohemian Rhapsody and Raindrop Prelude and Canon in D and Pour Adelaide and What a Wonderful World and other songs that bring me joy.
• Eat lunch somewhere other than my desk at least once a week. Step. Away. From. The. Computer.
• Finish or abandon my WIP — and feel good about either choice.
• Exercise.
• Write something new.
• Go to a play.
• Read a book I would never usually pick up.
• Read a classic.
• Read a book of short stories.
• Read more non-fiction.
• Go outside and breathe deeply everyday.
• Stretch.
• Think fewer “I should” or “I want” thoughts and more “I am” thoughts to stay in the present.

© 2018 Rachel Martin. All Rights Reserved.