What Happens When You Create Just for You

This past week, I did something for myself—quietly, tenderly, and completely offline.

Our family spent a few slow days in Bentonville, tucked into a little Airbnb that I’ve been working on behind the scenes for months. I never posted a photo. I never shared about it on stories. I just let it be mine.

It felt... sacred. Like something I wasn’t quite ready to give to the world.

But now that it’s finished, I’ve started to dream out loud a little. I think I might name it after my middle daughter and call it The Emmeline. It’ll be available to rent soon, so maybe one day, you’ll visit Northwest Arkansas, stay there, and come see my 100-year-old church renovation project, The Bloomhouse, too.

Sometimes, the most meaningful things we build don’t start with a launch plan. They start with love.

Ordinary Moments, Sacred Time

That week in Bentonville felt like a gift. We walked everywhere. I meditated in the mornings. I drank coffee alone in a little shop while the town woke up. I watched A Complete Unknown with Lucy—she was completely enthralled. We purchased a sewing machine for Violet, and she spend the week dreaming of what she would create with it. (She’s 16 now. We’re already talking about college. I’m trying not to cry just writing that.)

Dexter’s growing up too. He still wants to play, but you can tell he feels the shift—he’s not a little kid anymore. He looks so much like his dad. Every day, I notice it more.

Life feels like it’s changing all around me—and this week reminded me to be present for it. To breathe it in. To make something sacred from the ordinary.

What I’m Learning About Stillness

I’ve been using a meditation app lately called The Way. My mentor Jeff Walker recommended it, and it’s helping me understand the difference between two beautiful ideas:

• Mindfulness is about grounding ourselves in the present moment.
• Awakening is about seeing through the illusion of the self—remembering we’re not separate, but part of something bigger.

One brings calm. The other brings clarity. Both help us show up differently—in life, and in art.

This quiet week reminded me: you don’t have to share everything to be doing meaningful work. You can be wildly creative and still choose to move through the world slowly. You can build a business and a life that honors your inner rhythms. You can create something just for you—and let it be enough.

5 Ways to Create from a Place of Presence

Here are five simple, soulful practices to help you reconnect with your creativity this week:

1. Make Something No One Will See

Paint something you don’t plan to post. Sketch without the pressure to impress. Create for your eyes only. It doesn’t have to be polished. It just has to be honest.

2. Keep One Project Just for You

Whether it’s a secret sketchbook, a new idea, or a business dream you’re quietly building (like The Emmeline was for me), protect something sacred from public consumption… for now.

3. Shift One Routine

Have your coffee somewhere new. Rearrange your art space. Go for a walk without your phone. Changing your scenery can shift your spirit.

4. Ask “What Would Feel Nourishing Right Now?”

Not productive. Not impressive. Just nourishing. See what your answer is. Then trust it.

5. Anchor Your Art with Stillness

Before you start creating, pause. Take one minute to breathe and come home to yourself. Then create from that place.

Create Something Just for You

So often we feel like if we’re not posting, we’re not progressing. But real growth? Real alignment? That often happens in the unseen moments. The off-camera ones. The morning coffee ones. The being-with-your-kids ones.

This week, I invite you to create something just for you—not to promote, not to polish, not to monetize—but because making art can still be holy.

And if you’re dreaming about something quietly right now… a project, a space, a next chapter… keep going. Build it with love. You never know who it might bless someday.

With so much love,
Stacie