Bonny Snowdon 00:06
Hello, I'm Bonny Snowdon, ex-corporate person, a mother turned successful artist entrepreneur. It wasn't that long ago though that I lacked the confidence, vision and support network to focus on growing my dream business. Fast forward past many life curveballs, waves of self-doubt and so many lessons learned and you'll see Ignite, my thriving online colour pencil artists community, a community that changes members' lives for the better and gives me freedom to live abundantly whilst doing what I love and spending quality time with my beloved family and dogs, all whilst creating my best artwork with coloured pencils, and mentoring others to do the same. But this life wasn't always how it was for me, it used to only exist in my imagination. I've created the It's a Bonny Old Life podcast to help increase people's confidence, share mine and my community's experience and hope through fascinating personal stories, champion the other amazing humans in my personal, professional and membership community, and create another channel through which I can support others to realize their dreams. If you're a passionate coloured pencil artist, or an aspiring one who's looking to create their best work, and a joyful life you love, you're in the right place. Grab a cuppa and a custard cream, let's get cracking.
I haven't got time. I'm writing a book, but I'm struggling to find time for it. Not having time is an excuse, and when I dig deep, it's not because I don't have time, it's because I'm scared to start. The consequence of this fear is I'm not being of service to people who need me. This has left me frustrated a little bit cross and actually feeling like a failure. We all have 24 hours in a day and it's up to us as to what we want to do with those hours. Of course, we need to sleep and do those menial tasks everyone has to do, but if you actually thought about how much time you waste during your day, your week, your month, I think you'd be surprised at just how much time you do have. I see the excuse of not having enough time as just that, an excuse not to do something either because I don't want to do it, but I don't want to let someone down. Telling them I don't have enough time seems like a much nicer thing to say than sorry, I don't wanna do that, but that then leads to the question being asked again and again, and let's face it, the person asking knows you don't want to do it and is probably just waiting for you to say, Do you know what? Actually, it's not something I really want to do. Honesty is always the best policy, but sometimes it feels better to make an excuse like I don't have time.
You've heard the saying, if you want something doing, give it to a busy person, and there is definitely something in that busy people do tend to manage their time well. I know a lot of very busy people and they seem to be able to do all sorts of lovely things. Theatre out for meals from weekends, holidays. Being busy doesn't mean they have their lives full of jobs. 24 7, I'm busy, really busy. I also have time to use social media, be on TikTok for an hour, swim, spend half an hour in the Sauna, watch Netflix series, sit and do nothing. So for me to say I don't have time to write my book is utter nonsense. I'm using the excuse because for some reason I'm finding it hard to prioritize it. I find this comes up quite a lot with my members who are learning to draw. One of the most common reasons for leaving the membership is I don't have time. I totally understand something like creativity probably comes quite low on the list of things you want or need to do, but actually, if you really dug deep, there would probably be a whole host of other reasons why you don't want to prioritize creativity, and I bet fear of failure is right up there. As you know, I listened to a lot of podcasts and one I've listened to recently was Marie Folio with Steven Pressfield, How to Accomplish Your Dreams in one hour a day. He goes on to say, one hour a day, seven hours a week, 365 hours a year. You can create so much by just forming a habit of doing it for one hour a day is a great episode and goes into all sorts of things, and I highly recommend it. Finding time for you is vitally important for your wellbeing. If you're someone like me who thinks they are this strong person and it's all go, go, go. You will eventually find out that life just doesn't work like that, and it's really key to have downtime doing something you really love. I'm lucky I get to do what I love for a job. It is not a job actually. It is a way of life now for me, but I still need time away from my drawing board to refresh, to rest my brain so that I can think of new ideas and more ways to be creative.
My getting away from it is swimming. I used to love swimming as a child and I swam for my school team on occasion. I could spend hours in the water when I was younger and my newfound love of swimming has brought a whole new meaning to my life. I'm so happy sitting at home, drawing, helping people, watching Netflix, but going out out swimming a few times a week is really helping me to spend time on my own. No phone, no emails, no distractions, just gorgeous and very cold water. A year ago I would've seen this as wasted time, time I could be doing more for my business, but having gone through a lot of inward changes, I now totally understand the need for time out just for me. If you're one of those who can't find time for creativity and you use this excuse to not create, then I implore you to dig a little deeper and work out what the real reason is because if it's a priority, and let's face it, creativity in any kind of form should be a priority, then you will make time for it.
I really hope you enjoyed listening to this episode of my, It's a Bonnie Odd Life podcast. If you did, I'd be so grateful to you for emailing me or texting a link to the show or sharing it on social media with those you know who might like it to. My mission with this podcast is all about sharing mine and my community's experience and hope by telling your fascinating personal stories, jump in in the other amazing humans in my personal, professional, and membership community, and to create another channel through which I can support you to realize your coloured pencil and life dreams. If you haven't done so yet, please help me on my mission to spread positivity and joy throughout the coloured pencil world by following me on my socials at Bonnie Snowden Academy or by getting on my list at bonnysnowdenacademy.com. And remember, I truly believe if I can live the life of my dreams doing what I love, then you can too. We just need to keep championing and supporting each other along the way in order to make it happen. Till next time.
