Contagious Creativity
Did you do those acrostic poems when you were a kid?
The words switched around here or there depending on my mood. But I am certain "read" and "art" were at the top of the list every time. I have always loved stories and the adventures they take us on. I have always loved creativity and the self expression in the process. But I never made the connection between the two until I became a mother.
It seems when you become a parent you are forced to choose if you are a crafty mom or a not crafty mom. After feeding choices and sleep choices and screen time choices, you also must make a choice about art in your home. Are you a coloring book and crayons kind of a mom? A glitter and glue kind of mom? A "my kids do art at school" kind of mom?
I thought the answer to this would be easy for me. I LOVE crafts. I am a crafty mom through and through. We have two cabinets the children have access to in the family room, one for toys, and one for art. Most of the artwork on the walls are my favorites from their random watercolor sessions. I have boxes and bins filled with doodads and whatsits just waiting for inspiration to strike my children. And I don’t bat an eye when I see the mess from their creative projects. This is how I have always seen art—as a beautiful mess.
But while my kids are free to Jackson pollock their way through the day, sometimes I forget about myself. Maybe I'm a crafty mom, but am I a crafty person anymore?
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With “art” as a defining characteristic of my personality, this means when it is missing from my life, I find it hard to feel like myself. I remember this most firmly during my second pregnancy. The first trimester settled me into a depressive state. I was so sick, so tired, so unmotivated to even make dinner, let alone do something creative. I saw the void, and felt guilty about this. Desperate to find myself again, I went to the craft store and bought yards of fabric that caught my eye. Once home, I laid the fabric in front of me, urging inspiration to show itself. The fabric stayed quiet. I shoved it aside and took a nap.
Later that day, I watched Caroline, only two years old, playing in her sandbox singing a song, forming a pile with her hands and then crushing it with her fist. Over and over again she would build and crush, build and crush, and all the way there was this lilting tune coming out of her tiny mouth, a tune with no words that made sense, one that was unfamiliar.
This was creativity right here, I thought. In the building and the singing and the crushing and the repeating. It wasn’t a product, it was an act. It was a connection of thoughts to sound, hands to sand, eyes to form.
And there was another part of creativity happening. My own.
Even in my stillness, in my pause to observe and wonder and take in, there was creativity. Maybe not in the consuming but in the curiosity, in the learning. I remember feeling inspired by her nature to do and not think much of it.
I wrote a blog post later that day. It wasn’t about that moment. But in experiencing art in Caroline, I knew I could make art too. I could make it with words.
I started writing a year before that moment, a chance to tell the story of our family’s move and the adventures we encountered. I didn’t call myself a writer then, and I certainly didn’t think of the blogging as "creative." I documented my life as a parent. But slowly the words turned into storytelling. And storytelling started to reveal itself to me as a creative act. "READ" and "ART" found their way to blend as one. Maybe they were always there, I just needed to become a mother to learn this about myself.
Living life alongside my children has taught me the value of storytelling, not just for memory keeping, but as a way to experience creativity through a whole new medium. I paint self-portraits through prose, weave words from wonder, and write the story only I can tell.
What this revealed to me, is even without pulling out the craft bins, I am creative.
And that means you are, too.
Creativity doesn’t have to mean themed art projects. And it doesn’t have to mean mess. Creativity can look a whole lot like living life, but only if you see it as so.
Wading through pre and postpartum depression, I recognized fully the limitations for living a creative life. In moments of crisis or exhaustion, we are forced to find creativity in new ways. But the beauty of this is once it’s found, it is so much easier to find your way back there.
We’re there again, a moment of crisis, a moment of exhaustion. It is the greatest equalizer, as if everyone I know is living through the challenging days of my postpartum periods. We are all clawing our way back to ourselves, and acknowledging where we can be creative is the best way I know how.
Here’s the good news, it doesn’t mean setting up a craft cabinet. It doesn’t have to involve your children at all. Although, I might add, setting them up with an art filled life is a great place to start. They are naturals. They will inspire you.
Like the acrostic name poems of my childhood, naming an action as creative gives it purpose in my life. I started making a list of all the ways that creativity shows up, not just with pens or paper or glitter glue mess but in the act of creating beauty from mess. I am sharing my list with you in hopes that you can see all the ways you are creative too. Creativity is contagious. It’s the kind of virus I am happy to spread.
All the Ways to Be Creative:
Coloring in a coloring book
Smashing water color paint on paper
Problem solving when life
Menu planning
Coordinating childcare
Journaling
To-do list
Doodling
Reading a magazine and finding inspiration
Stacking blocks
Reorganizing a pantry
Changing menu when your grocery order doesn’t arrive
Creating a learning activity for kids
Choosing thoughtful gifts
Decorating for a holiday
Rearranging furniture
Plan a vacation
Write a letter
Arrange flowers
Pulling together an outfit
and the list goes on and on…
PS. Speaking of creativity, you're looking at one of my most recent creative endeavors, a new website! There is a reason people hire out this job. I am a writer, not a computer scientist, or whatever you are called when you know the internet and stuff. I was trying so hard to make it perfect. And then I remembered that the internet is not permanent so whatever I choose to do today, I could always change tomorrow. So I did it! And it was fun! And now I need to take a nap. Let me know what you think!
PPS. Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter the Raise & Shine Letter so you can stay up-to-date on all my creative endeavors!