Put your apron on!

This is my painting apron. 

I have been wearing this apron when I paint for nearly 10 years. Think of me what you will, but I love this thing. 

It is so covered in paint that one day I believe I'll walk into the studio and see it standing up on it's own in front of the easel! 

When I wear this apron, I feel like an artist. I feel like a painter. I know who I am.  I know once I slip this over my head and tie the strings around my waist I know what is about to happen. The next step is picking up a brush & squeezing some paint onto the pallet. Then... I work. It is all too natural when wearing the apron.

It is very easy up until that moment to make excuses. It is very easy up until that moment to fill my time with something else. Oh, I need to get this done, oh I need to get that done, whatever. But once the apron is on, the painting happens. 

Sometimes the hardest thing is to get started. Sometimes I think I'll never start again. That is why I am glad I sort of have a self-created uniform. Anyone that knows me as a painter knows my apron. We two are in a unique partnership. Perhaps it is my adult version of a blankie, who knows?! But we all have those things in our lives that make the next step easier, more inevitable. Just like runners say, the hardest step is the one out your door. I know that wearing your workout clothes and lacing up your sneakers makes it a little bit harder not to hit the road for your run. 

Wearing the outfit makes it easier to play the role. Perhaps you have an ensemble that makes you feel more like a poet or a musician or you have special shoes & gloves that you wear when you work in the garden... these all could be your 'apron'. Your habitual ritual that makes the next part of the process, engaging in your creativity, a little bit of a smoother transition. 

Like, 'Hey! I would feel stupid to just sit here in my painting apron and play around on facebook or watch TV while wearing it! So, I may as well paint.'

In which case, I usually end up happy with that decision anyways! 

So what is your 'apron' or what could it be? What makes you feel like the creative person that you are and makes your work a little easier to slide into & more inevitable?