As I begin my junior year of college, I am already wondering how on earth I will be able to find time for all the things I need to do, not to mention all the things I want to do! I drafted this post during a past semester, but I needed to be reminded of the value of creative outlets and the importance of deliberately carving out time for them. I seek to challenge you in this post, but more than that, I am decisively planning to make creative outlets a priority amidst the madness that I’m certain is about to ensue!

It’s a busy world. Life is crazy.

I have so many ideas, just a plethora of things that I want to do and create–letters I want to write, pictures I want to take, memories I want to sketch, poems I want to finish, songs I want to learn, ideas I want to express.

The list could go on and on.

I find that I live in this world of constant motion, perpetual noise. I find myself in a treacherous pattern of always going from one thing to the next, keeping my sights set on the next moment when I will be able to take a deep breath. I slip subconsciously into the mindset of: If i can just get through this Monday or that project or this double waitressing shift or that event…

This list could also go on and on.

But the reality is that another thing will always exist. The moment I cross “the next thing” off my list, “the next next thing” is right there to take its place.

Sometimes I get frustrated when someone says “I didn’t have time for that.” And another individual will correct him with an ever-so-predictable, “No, you didn’t make time for that.”

Now, as much as I adore that beautiful blend of good intentions and pompous condescension (and I do), sometimes “making time” is not realistic. Maybe the reason I didn’t have time to post on my blog (or whatever “that” is) was not that I neglected to “make time” by squandering precious hours immersed in social media and binge-waching Friends on Netflix. Maybe it’s not because I wasted my afternoon sleeping  or texting or catching up on all the greatest Snapchat stories. Maybe I needed all twenty-four hours in my day to write a paper for a difficult class, listen to a troubled friend, finish a time-consuming group project, answer my mom’s phone call, attend a class lecture, go to work so I can pay my school bill, and sleep for a few hours so I’m ready to repeat a similar cycle tomorrow.

See, sometimes it is not realistic to “make time.”

So I’ve decided that sometimes….it’s okay to just “take time.”

So maybe instead of getting a 93% on my project, I get a 91%…maybe I chat on the phone with my mom for 10 minutes instead of a half hour…maybe I get 5 hours of sleep at night instead of 6 hours…a little opportunity cost in action.

Take time.

Take time to refresh your mind. Take time to create beautiful things. Take time to challenge and inspire people. Take time to write about what you love. Take time to journal about your day. Creative outlets are essential and immensely valuable.

That’s why I have decided to take time for them. I think you should too.