A crucial consideration in doing creative work, and in creating a unique life, is downtime. By downtime I don’t mean just time away from the work. I don't mean time to run errands or time to watch TV, but time for reflection and solitude. Time to let your mind just wander to wherever it wants to go. Time to absorb whatever messages the larger universe might want to send. Time to give the messages deep inside your inner world an opportunity to bubble up. 

    Without downtime, and it does require discipline and planning, you lose touch with yourself. You lose perspective on the challenges of your life, and they start to take over. You lose access to your creative juice. You may think that what you are doing is dealing with pressing issues, and that those issues are so important that you can't afford time away, but the message your inner world will receive is that it is not valued. It will then retreat, and your work, your life, will lose power. 
     All the major setbacks in my life have come after a protracted period of addressing pressing issues and not taking time off to relax my mind and gain perspective.

Why is it that I get my best ideas in the morning while I'm shaving?
- Albert Einstein