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Re-Establishing Myself as a Creative
Owning the rights to being a creative human
I have always thought of myself as “NOT CREATIVE.” Until I decided to change that.
Everyone around me has always been creative: one sister draws, another can sing, my husband paints/woodworks/designs, my best friends are photographers, my grandfather and grandmother were both artists, my uncle woodworks, my aunt quilts/sews, my mom sewed her own wedding dress.
I am analytical to a fault, live by my calendar, and organize for fun (Ennegram 1 in the house). Creative? No way. Not me. I harbored a strong dislike for all things DIY, lacking the patience and skill for most crafts.
It could have been being nearly 40 or having spent all of last year on our fertility journey or my year-long business break, but somewhere along the way of life I decided to re-explore what creativity and I had to do with each other.
This was kick started by committing to The Artist Way - THE. SEMINAL. BOOK. on the subjective of creativity; a cult classic, if you will, in creative, spiritual, and entrepreneurial circles. While I owned this book for years and had heard the hype, I never picked it up. Remember how I said I wasn’t creative? Why should I, a non-creative, read this, a creative’s book?
It promised me a reconnection to my dormant creativity. It assured me that, like many other analytical types who committed to the process and found their creativity, I would find mine. But it made me work for it. Between The Artist Way’s two covers lies a 12 week program that includes: 1) weekly reading, 2) weekly artist date, 3) daily morning pages, 4) anywhere from 1-12 activities/writing exercise tasks, and a 5) weekly recap.
It’s intense and confession: I came no where close to doing all of the activities she assigns, I rarely did an artist date, and I missed more than half of the activities.
But I found what I was looking for - an acceptance that I am creative. That the only prerequisite to being creative is being human. I came to understand that accountants and engineers are just as creative as artists. I came to understand that I, writing grant applications, was creative. I came to understand that getting dressed and putting together outfits was creative.
I had always down played that. I don’t know why. Maybe I internalized the “fashion is frivolous” idea. Maybe I forgot. Maybe I had just become disconnected from myself.
Through this exploration, reconnection to and acceptance of, I took my creativity into my own hands:
Started Vogue[ish] so I could do more writing
Relaunched my style coaching programs
Purchased a digital piano ($120 at an estate sale baby) so I could relearn how to play
Joined Richmond Creative Club to practice making different things with my hands
I decided that the practice of a thing was entire the point - not the end result. For most of my life I have been goal focused. If there’s an outcome, I will achieve it. Over the past year, that shifted for me. Previously, I would shy away from joining a craft class because what if what I made was childish? I would tell myself I wasn’t good enough yet to join this class.
I realized that producing a perfect end result is not the goal of creativity. The goal of creativity is the practice, the process, the learning.
What was most profound for me was accepting and asserting that I am creative. I decided to own the rights to being a creative person. My creativity is writing - whether that’s about style or a nonprofit. My creativity is how I get dressed and teaching other people how to do that. My creativity is thrifting and estate sales. It’s having chickens and my ability to make a great sauce (that’s about as far as my kitchen skills go).
While I didn’t adhere to The Artist Way exercise for exercise, it was the Morning Pages activity that I found to be most impactful. Perhaps it’s my routine-loving brain, but this 30 minute, three full pages of free writing every morning did something for me. The brain to hand to paper exercise unlocked thoughts and established connections. It was a judgement free place for me to question assumptions and spark ideas. It let me work out problems and became the place where I realized three important things:
I had never lost my creativity.
I had just forgotten.
I’m glad to have remembered who and what I am - creative.
If you want to explore your creativity, join us in STYLE LAB!
We start April 1 (no, this is not a joke - and yes that’s TOMORROW!).
STYLE LAB is a 6 week, self-led style program. You’ll get weekly worksheets with prompts and experiments to work through. You’ll also get access to two group calls with me for support.
You will not focus on trends or purchasing a whole new wardrobe.
In fact, buying things isn’t even the goal of the lab. The focus is on getting into your closet and treating it like a lab! In this process, you’ll learn the structure of your own style through the worksheets (aka: the classroom) and learn how apply them to your closet (aka: the lab).
Program goals:
Learn the four components of your style foundations
Put those components into practice in your closet
Learn more about the program, including dates everything kicks off here.
Cost: $88. Sign up before 3/31/24 with code STYLELAB424 and save 30% - making the program just $61 or $10/week.
PLUS, you’ll get a free annual subscription to Vogue[ish}!
(If you’re already an annual Vogue[ish] subscriber and want to join, email me for your promo code.)