I wrote about the role Pablo Picasso played in my creative life after seeing the retrospective at the New York Museum of Modern Art on June 4, 1980. My creative life takes place in a context of mundane blocks of time into which I divide each day. There have been different iterations of this since reaching awareness before being a grader. The latest came out of the coronavirus pandemic.

When I left paid work in the spring of 2020, I didn’t know what would be next. I knew my life would involve staying healthy, proper nutrition, writing, reading, gardening and home maintenance. There was also the matter of too many possessions for the size of our house — an inevitable downsizing being constantly imminent.

In the six years since retirement, life has sorted itself into buckets. What I do when is not regimented, yet taken as a daily whole my activities are consistent. There is variation between cold and warm seasons, yet my days are recognizable to anyone who knows me.

In an attempt to articulate a day in the life, here is the current scaffolding upon which I build a creative life.

My day begins with an attempt to get restful sleep. I go to bed early and wake in the wee hours of morning, usually by 3 a.m. Sometimes I go back to sleep, and rarely do I sleep past 5 a.m.

I read at least 25 pages of a paper book before getting out of bed. I want to check box that task early so it doesn’t linger until after a full day’s activity, missing a day.

Next I perform a daily exercise and health regimen, doing foot, balance, and stretching exercises along with recording physical measurements of weight, blood pressure, and calories consumed the previous day. After this I make the bed, get dressed, and head down the hall to the kitchen where I make coffee.

Depending on the time, I either head to my writing space or to the state park trail for my daily 30-minute brisk walk. The order of these two gets switched around often. It is here I usually write my daily blog post and consume about two cups of coffee.

When the morning writing period and walk are finished, I have breakfast and turn to projects. In summer, that usually means gardening time. In winter, it means outdoors work like snow removal, or indoor work like cooking and more writing. After lunch, I rest for a while, usually laying in bed on top of the covers.

After my nap, it’s another work block. At about 3 p.m., I move to the kitchen for food preparation, culminating in dinner, which I prepare most days.

After dinner I have an open work period where I address things that come up during the day. When I get too sleepy to be useful, I start another day by going to bed.

All of this is to say I have created a pattern. The structure tends to remove stress, enabling focus on my work. Think of my day like the shift of an air traffic controller landing airplanes one at a time.

Hopefully this type of daily structure contributes to a well lived life of crearive endeavor. I know I feel the better for it and can get things done.