Creativity expressed: showing up to Make

Creativity is what I find myself returning to. Making things is what I do to process my experience, to make sense of the world, to celebrate it, to put my energy back into it. ‘Making’ creates space for different thoughts. New thoughts. No thoughts. Thoughts from forgotten places.

It’s healing, opening, fun, if I can let it be. Making things unravels parts of myself so I can see them, helps me to honour and serve the inspiration that comes, flowing in cycles and feedback loops.

Sometimes making things comes from the deep deep urge to create, sometimes it comes from joyful spontaneity. Wherever it starts, and whenever we get to it, I am so fascinated by the healing powers, of creativity expressed.

Creativity expressed has helped me to move through perfectionism into making for the sake of delicious making. It’s helped me to notice where blocks in my making of art also show up in other areas of my life. It helps me know myself better. Its relieved the resentment and sadness I felt that I wasn’t ‘making’ as often as I felt I needed to, and feel more empowered about it. It’s helped me to take myself and my art WAY less seriously, to enjoy it, while simultaneously amplifying the serious, humbling power to be found in showing up for creativity.

For a long time I used to wait until the need to ‘make’ got too loud to ignore. Putting everything else first doesn’t quieten creativities nudges. But this past year I’ve been making creative expression *for myself* a part of my regular week and days, reserved not only for the hard times and holidays.

The lockdowns (and last years #the100dayproject) allowed me the space to realise how important creative self expression is for so many reasons, and to start showing up for it often.

As life gets busier it is for me to decide what happens next. I’ve been making choices about my availability moving forward, setting boundaries around my time and energy in order to keep showing up and go deeper into this relationship. How I maintain those boundaries in order to honour the artist in me is an ongoing, everyday choice, and a commitment I am making to & for myself and Creativity.