January Challenges, Real Life, and Showing Up Anyway
January always arrives with a lot of good intentions. New notebooks, fresh energy, and that quiet promise to ourselves that this is the month we’ll finally stick to something. This year, I decided to lean into that feeling and signed up for not one, but two creative challenges—while also juggling ongoing work projects and deadlines.
Ambitious? Yes. Realistic? Questionable. Worth it? Absolutely.
This image was done for the January Jehane’s Golden Thread Challenge, the first theme was Nordi Style and the prompt- Turi Gramstad. It was hard to do multiple daily drawing challenges with work deadlines and teaching so I couldn’t do all of them, so I stuck to the bird challenge most of the time and was able to do all 31 birds.
One challenge was an Instagram bird drawing challenge—a daily practice in observation, loosening up, and letting sketches be exactly what they needed to be. Some days I was able to do multiple drawings of the particular bird prompt and some days just one. All dependent of my work schedule, but I made sure I did a drawing even if it didn’t turn out the way I hoped it to be. I create them all on my ipad with Procreate, making it that much easier not to make excuses about not doing it.
I grouped a bunch of birds here.
The second was a 31 Days of Story Ideas challenge, which felt like stretching a completely different creative muscle. Every day, a new idea—some tiny, some wild, some that will probably never go anywhere. And that was freeing in itself. Not every idea needs to become a book. Some ideas just need to exist so the next good one can show up.
Fika is a typical Swedish tradition where you take time out of your day to pause and enjoy a hot drink and a snack. But it’s not just about savouring a good cup of kaffi(the Swedish word for coffee). Fika is a ritual that’s important in Swedish culture, giving yourself a moment to have a break and socialise.” -- Nordic Visitor
This was another image from the Jehane’s Golden Thread challenge- Scandi Style.
Of course, January didn’t pause to accommodate my creative goals. Work was busy. Projects needed attention. Days filled up quickly. There were moments when I thought, I’ll catch up tomorrow—and then tomorrow came with its own list of things. I didn’t complete every challenge perfectly or on time. And I’m learning to be okay with that.
What mattered more was that I kept coming back.
White- Earred Pheasant
Razor Bill Bird
By the end of the month, I didn’t just have a collection of bird drawings and story seeds—I had momentum. A renewed trust in myself that even in busy seasons, creativity doesn’t disappear. It waits patiently for an invitation.
As February begins, I’m carrying that lesson forward. Less pressure. More play. Fewer expectations, and more room to explore. Not everything needs to be finished. Not everything needs to be shared. But making space to create—even in small ways—still matters.
And maybe that’s the real win of January: not sticking to every rule, but remembering why we start in the first place.
Indian PAradise Fly Catcher