My Dig Deep Button is Broken

Storm Warning • 13" x 15" • Dye on Cloth • ©2011 Jennifer Libby Fay

My Dig Deep Button is broken.

I didn’t realize it until I read Tracey Hewitt’s delightful blog post, It’s All about Sunsets. Seems Tracey’s Dig Deep Button is broken too.

Sometimes my Dig Deep Button breaks because of too much and sometimes too little. This time it’s a too much problem. There are so many things I want to experience, places I want to travel, people I want to meet, and art I want to make—I have a hard time saying no to all the wonderfulness. My schedule gets crowded, my time in the studio shrinks, I dig deeper and deeper, and wham, try as I might, nothing seems to work right.

Trust in Your Love • 12" x 12" • Dye on Cloth • ©2011 Jennifer Libby Fay

At times of high stress, you’ll probably find me reading a book—or a blog.

I read a lot yesterday, compulsively devouring information, processing it, putting it in the “I need to do this” file for future use—how to get more followers, more friends, higher scores, more sales…

I read Tracey’s post last night. As I looked at the beautiful sunsets and read Tracey’s words I could feel my shoulders relax. That person in my head who has been yelling, “Come On! Come On! Come On! Go! Go! Go!” for what seems like months now, actually took a step back.

In the silence that followed I was shocked into the present moment and realized it is time to rebalance again, time to answer Tracey’s question, “What resets your Dig Deep Button?” for myself.

This morning I cancelled a few appointments giving myself time to accomplish some things that were really only important to me. I started to feel better. I looked at the stream of information coming my way a little differently—I let a lot of it just go by…and then I spied a post by Chris Brogan called, Say No Faster.

Say no faster? Say no with love and respect and gratitude?—that could mend my Dig Deep Button pretty fast.

Here is Chris’ “Say No Faster” Resolution

Repeat after me:
From now on, I resolve to say no faster. I will say no with grace and poise and kindness, but I will say no. Even when something takes “just five minutes,” if I don’t have the time or don’t feel compelled to sway from the course of my own commitments, I will say no with kindness, and wish the person well. Saying no faster is much better than not responding, and much better than the guilt I will feel if I say yes, but can’t deliver.

I am grateful to Tracey and Chris for sharing their vulnerability and inspiration. I predict that after a few days of finding the beauty in my surroundings and saying no faster I'll be ready to dig deep again.