When you hear the word ritual, you’re probably thinking that it has to do with religion and a priest saying prayers and lighting candles. But rituals are not just religious. One of the definitions of a ritual is that it’s something done according to social customs or normal protocol. If you do the same thing in the same order when you do it, like getting up or preparing for bed, then you’re following a ritual. What are your rituals for creativity?
Me, Rituals and Nomar Garciaparra
I have had a very specific ritual for writing. I’m an early-morning writer, so I get up around 5:30 and make coffee. Part of the ritual is to bring my husband his coffee in bed–it’s a bribe to keep him in the bedroom because he’s an early-morning talker. Then I sit in the living room surrounded by a couple of tables, with my notebook, pen, and laptop. From there, I start writing for the next hour or two.
Everyone has rituals. Some are famous, like Nomar Garciaparra’s famous at-bat ritual of glove fixing, digging in his cleats, and swinging his bat. Some are less well known, like Maya Angelou writing every day in a small hotel room. Just as her husband would leave for work, she would also leave and head to the hotel room to write. And Twyla Tharp, in her book The Creative Habit, talks about her ritual of getting up early to go to the gym, she gets dressed, goes downstairs, and hails a cab. Once the cab has been hailed, her ritual is complete and she is on her way to warming up her body, which is what she needs, as a dancer, in order to create.
Why Rituals Work
The nice thing about rituals is that by following them, it not only keeps you on track. It brings you into the moment. Imagine being a famous ballplayer like Nomar, it must be nerve-wracking to walk up to the plate and know that everyone is expecting something big. The ritual of adjusting the gloves, digging in his cleats, and swinging his bat helps to bring him right into the moment, to focus him on the job at hand. According to Life Hack: Rituals Spell Anxiety Relief, rituals can reduce stress and anxiety. By following the elaborate ritual before every pitch, he was able to create a pause that allowed his heart rate to drop and allowed him to de-stress. He was then able to focus on the job at hand.
For me, the act of walking into the kitchen is the trigger that gets me moving in the direction of writing. I follow the ritual every day. I write every day. Or at least I did. Lately, this ritual has been failing me because part of it is broken. My husband had shoulder surgery a few weeks ago and can’t sleep inbed yet. Instead, he’s on the recliner in the living room. My writing area. He’s a morning talker. This isn’t working well.
I’ve been forcing myself to write. Trying to find snatches of creativity while he’s sleeping off his pain medicine or at physical therapy. It’s not the best scenario for me, but it works for now. Guess, I’m going to need to create a new ritual for writing. So I ask again, what are your rituals for creativity?
Sorry to hear about your husband – A) For his sake and B) for yours (no wait a minute swap that A B thing around! 🙂 ) It must be so hard having your ritual broken. I would go nuts. My ritual is to enter my office/studio somewhere between 6 and 7.30am and not come out unless there is a fire. (Which has only happened once when my toaster set fire to my rice cakes). My husband got so tired of the entire house being used as a canvas that he knocked through into the garage, turned it into a studio and ordered me to go in there and never come out. Suits me just fine!
On a more serious note, I really do get where you are coming from because I am constantly getting pulled away from my work because my parents need me more and more as the days go by. It is really affecting my writing for some reason while at the same time helping my other artistic pursuits. When my head is messed up for writing from breaks in my ritual, I go deeper into creating with colour and have an art bag that goes everywhere with me. I find it easier to sit up a corner, wherever I am – hospital, in the carpark, at someone’s house, doctor’s waiting room etc, doodling with colour than to write.
Playing with colour soothes me when I am feeling anxious whereas trying to read or write just agitates me. At first it worried me but now I just go with the flow.
Really hope you get your ritual back asap and that your husband makes a full recovery from the op.
I love that your husband broke through the garage wall to create you a studio….I imagine him wearing safety goggles, wielding a chainsaw and a maniacal grin as he cuts through the wall! It’s good that you have other artist pursuits that sooth you when things are getting crazy!
Thanks for this. Our early morning routines are reversed. My husband gets up early and makes ME coffee to bribe me to stay in bed so he can have a devotional time in our sitting room. Suits me – I am so not a morning person!
That’s great. If I don’t write in the morning, it doesn’t make sense. Forget nighttime, nothing really sounds good except a nice drink.
I hope your husband heals quickly and quietly so you can get back to your ritual. Lol!
Colleen is working him over in PT. But so far, that just makes the pain worse. Poor guy.
Your ritual sounds lovely! Whenever my husband is home in the morning (he works nights), he also tries to talk to me. -_- Unfortunately, though, I don’t have a set writing ritual. We are redoing our basement, where we are going to put a writing nook for me, but it’s not quite finished yet. Also, with my current job, I’ve just been writing when I can, where I can. I am dreaming of the day when I can toddle down to my nook, coffee in hand.
I hope your husband is on the mend; that must be so difficult. Sending healing vibes your way!
Thanks for sending the healing vibes. We find out this week if he’ll be able to drive himself, which will free up some time for me.
Sorry to hear about your husband’s surgery. Have you thought about writing in the bedroom instead?
I seriously need to get my early morning writing ritual back in place.
I have to admit that I don’t really have a ritual. Maybe it’s the Gemini in me, but I like to mix things up; I feel like I get stale if I do things the same way all the time. I do need a clean desk in order to feel creative. And I tend to be the most clear-headed in the morning. But other than that, sometimes I work at my desk (either sitting or standing), sometimes I’ll prop myself up in bed, sometimes I like to write in a public place. P.S. Hope your Hubs is back into his own routine soon!
Thanks for stopping by. He is healing nicely and we’ll find out tomorrow if he’ll be able to start driving himself. Right now, I’m also his chauffeur….lucikly he’s cute and still cooks for me. But I think there may be a ritual in your desire to have a clean space before you write, I guess it depends on if you also do that at the coffee shop and even on your bed.
Hi Jennifer, I’m an early bird as well as my morning ritual is coffee, yoga and then to the blog. I used to just get up and get straight into writing but this year I changed it so that I eased into my morning. I found my headspace was much better after coffee and yoga – even if only 15 minutes it certainly helps me to start the day well. I hope your husband is recovering well. Sometimes we just have to go with the flow of life when it interrupts our rituals don’t we? Have a beautiful week.
Sue from Sizzling Towards 60 & Beyond
Luckily I have extra time in the morning now since I no longer have to rush off to work, so I’m working past the interruptions. 🙂
I love my morning rituals of coffee, writing, and planning my day. My kids have been with me on their spring break for over a week now and I am really missing my routine. Fortunately, they go back to school tomorrow and I can reestablish my blissful routine. It’s funny how much we need our rituals.
And funny how much we miss them when they are gone. I have a long-standing ritual with that first cup of coffee and quiet and when only one half of that equation is there–the coffee–I feel out of balance.
I usually write in the morning and edit later in the day when I don’t need as much creativity. I have my coffee, do some catching up online and after I’m ready for work have about 30 minutes most week days to write. On the weekend I can be more relaxed and take more time. But most of the time my writing is in the morning at my desk and my iMac. I do scratch out ideas on paper whenever they come to me and sometimes I have to repeat them verbally if I’m walking so I don’t forget them. But the bulk of my writing is at my desk in the morning. I wish I could be like Roxanne and have a neat desk but mine is usually messy. Right now my bra is sitting on top of a pile of papers because it suddenly needed to come off. So you never know what you might find on my desk. LOL.
Until a recent and forced retirement, I would write in the morning before work. I couldn’t even get ready for work first, I had to get up and start writing after coffee. Part of that ritual was created because of cats. When we had cats, I couldn’t get ready for work until I was ready to leave because sitting back down on anything put me in danger of white hair all over my clothes.