Lately, I’ve been reminded just how important it is to keep my own cup full.
It’s one of those sayings that gets thrown around a lot, but the busier I am, the more I realise how true it is.
You can’t keep giving from an empty cup. You can try. Most of us do. We keep saying yes. We keep helping. We keep working. We keep showing up for everyone else. We convince ourselves we’ll rest later.
Eventually though, the signs start appearing.
For me, it’s usually impatience first. Then I become a bit cranky. Little things annoy me more than they should. I get tired. My motivation disappears. The things I normally enjoy start feeling like chores. It’s not because I don’t love what I do. It’s because I’ve spent too long pouring into everyone else’s cup and forgotten to top up my own.
As someone who teaches, creates, runs a business and generally likes helping people, I can be very good at giving. Not always so good at stopping.
The thing is, I know exactly what fills my cup. It’s not expensive holidays. It’s not fancy restaurants. It’s actually very simple things.
- Creating art.
- Reading a good book.
- Binge-watching a series that completely switches my brain off.
- Having a sleep when I’m tired.
- Sitting quietly and doing absolutely nothing productive.
Sometimes I think we underestimate the value of zoning out. We’re often told we should always be achieving something, improving something or working towards something. But sometimes what we really need is to stop. To rest. To breathe. To simply exist for a while.
For me, though, art is the big one. Creating has always been the thing that brings me back to myself.
When I’m drawing, painting or experimenting with ideas, my mind settles. The noise quietens down. Problems seem smaller. My perspective shifts. It’s not that art magically fixes everything. It just helps me find my balance again.
The challenge is that when life gets busy, creating is often the first thing I push aside. Which is completely backwards because it’s also the thing that helps me cope with being busy.
Lately I’ve realised my own cup is hovering somewhere between “running low” and “dangerously close to empty.”
I’ve been doing a lot of giving. A lot of teaching. A lot of planning. A lot of helping. And not nearly enough creating. So it’s time.
Time to make space for my own art again. Time to sit down with ideas that have been floating around in my head. Time to make things simply because I want to.
That decision has also led me to revisit something that’s very close to my heart: Cormack Creations.
Cormack Creations is my personal creative space. It’s where I can explore my own artwork without lesson plans, deadlines or expectations. It’s a place for experimentation, curiosity and creating simply for the joy of creating.
In many ways, Cormack Creations is my cup-filling project. A reminder that artists need to create too. Not because it’s productive. Not because it’s useful.
But because it feeds the soul.
So if you’ve been feeling tired, grumpy, overwhelmed or a little unlike yourself lately, maybe it’s worth asking a simple question:
What fills your cup?
And when was the last time you gave yourself permission to do it?