Sitting at the End of the Road By Valarie Budayr

I’m in a position that comes after a long journey and that is the point of reaching the goal I have worked so hard to get to, the end of my project.

I must be honest though, it isn’t a comfortable place for me. I’m so good at working towards my final destination but once it approaches I immediately start looking for the next project, the next piece of research, the next something to do, the next big thing to be inspired by.

Recently, one of my virtual assistants, who’s worked with me for years made quite a statement after I asked her to start another one of our creative projects.

“You know Valarie, I don’t think we need to start one more new thing until the beginning of the next month. You’ve worked two years on this latest project and now it’s launching.

You need to sit back and enjoy the ride and we all want to enjoy it with you.”

Until she mentioned it I had never thought about how I always start another project at the final ending of the current one. I had to agree with her; maybe it was time to just sit back and enjoy what I’ve already accomplished.

Just like the creative process has it’s journey the ending does as well. I woke up the next morning and began sending emails to my team that we are going to just enjoy our project’s end and learn to sit with it for awhile.

What does that mean?

Rest when we’re tired. Laugh when we succeed. Sit in the gap of nothing going on and learn to become comfortable with it. Dream. Be inspired. Be filled with Gratitude.

Why haven’t I stopped at the end to just enjoy before?

After much reflection I’ve realized that perhaps I was afraid to stop. Afraid that the creative well would run dry. In sitting at the end of the road I’ve had some really scary moments. What was I suppose to do with that void of non-creating. I chose to just sit with it. In all it’s discomfort and uneasy feeling. To acknowledge how it feels to come to the end of a two year project. That realization brings extreme joy. In time the discomfort and uneasiness has gone away and in it’s place is the comfort of knowing that the well will not run dry. Not even close. Celebrating the end of the project actually gives great space and depth between the journey and new beginnings.

It’s great to know that there is an end and that sitting with it is also part of the journey. Wherever your creative journeys take you, please enjoy your endings as much as your beginnings.

Here’s wishing you many creative moments.

Valarie Budayr is the founder of Audrey Press and author of the book The Fox Diaries: The Year the Foxes Came to our Garden and The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. She is passionate about making kid’s books come alive and you can find her doing that on her popular blog and website, Jump into a Book. When she isn’t being bookie, she is very happily the mother of three uber creative children, married to a wonderfully patient man who has come to love yarn, and caretaker of one adored cat. Other creative interests are music, travel, knitting (a bonafide yarn harlot), and gardening. She loves living a daily creative practice, where even a good cup of coffee is art.