My Facebook status today reads “Where does the ability to act upon your creative ideas go? Do you lose your creative voice? How do you fix/heal/refresh that voice once you’ve lost touch with it?”
I remember a time when almost all of my free time revolved around being creative. When I was very small I played with dolls and “designed” them clothes from scraps of left over fabric. I colored, drew and then began “designing” mock newsletters, worksheets and clothing. As I grew older, I was skating whenever I was allowed to be at the rink, when I wasn’t at the rink I was illustrating my costume designs, listening to music and working on ideas for programs, or just dancing.
My high school class schedules were filled with as many creative courses as it could hold. Three years of Journalism because I was the art editor for the school newspaper. Drafting/Architecture so for four years I spent a period of every day doing technical drawing. Woodshop, Teacher’s Aid for the Crafts class (which meant I could do pottery), Art classes every term, and Drama where we did a lot of improv. My creative voice was always in use.
Today I spend a lot of time creating in my mind, my creative spaces and tools lay cluttered with supplies but very little creating happens there. I do “creative” work which means I create things for others but that’s not the same process or the same life style. The transition from Creative Being to Creative Dreamer happened between high school and my mid-20s.
Now, two decades later, I wonder is it possible to unearth that hidden voice? Is it important to learn why or how I stopped living that creative life?
About 10 years ago, I wrote down what my ideal future would include, one of the things I most wanted was to be able to teach again. Specifically, I wanted to teach and inspire women to let go and be creative. To teach and encourage women of any size and skill to learn to dance, if it’s in your heart you can do it. To teach classes on styles and forms of painting (and other arts & crafts), the goal would be to allow people who desired to paint but didn’t have the skill set, or the confidence, to do so in an encouraging setting. And, to hold writers workshops, to free the voices women had stopped using.
So how do I begin on the journey to use my creative voice?