A Celebration and a Realization

Today is Brian and my fifteenth wedding anniversary.

Ours was a joyful and beautiful wedding. Luckily it rained. Not many in attendance even realized it was supposed to have been an outdoor ceremony. The venue took care of everything seamlessly.

The reason I say we were lucky is because Brian was severely allergic to some grass or weed on the premise and if we had been outside he would have looked like Will Smith after he got stung by the bee in Hitch. As it was, we were inside and everything was flawless.

I had never been the girl who dreamed about her wedding day. I think that actually made things easier and more fun once my mom and I were planning the details. I wasn’t attached to things being a certain way, so it was easy to agree with others ideas and what was important to them, as well as my own have to have list.

My mom and I enjoyably planned and executed a magnificent affair. My parents eloped young and I am their only daughter. Mom didn’t have a traditional wedding, so as you can imagine, she was on board to go all out. And we did. Two hundred guests, ice sculpture, sushi station, surf and turf….you get the idea.

Planning and organizing have always been natural strengths of mine–passed down to me from my mom. Structure and order are comfortable and come easily.

It is only recently that I understand that planning a wedding falls under the “creative” umbrella.

When I look back at the event that my mom and I put together, I can see it for what it was–creativity at work. When you create something from nothing, that is creativity.

For the longest time I thought that to be creative you had to be an artist. If you couldn’t paint, draw, sculpt or be crafty you weren’t creative. I used to say “I don’t have a creative bone in my body”.

I really couldn’t have been more wrong. Creativity comes out in so many different ways—cooking, gardening, sewing, inventing, dancing, writing, acting, music, photography, organizing, jewelry making, event planning and so much more.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about creativity and the ways in which we express and suppress it. A big part of my own belief about not being creative stemmed from not being good at art. Art was not natural for me and I became discouraged early in life. I took on the belief that I was bad at it and it wasn’t for me.

I think this is very common and one of the main reasons that people don’t express their creativity. We shy away from being bad at things, but in the end it only holds us back from different avenues to express ourselves.

Allow yourself to be a beginner. No one starts out being an expert. ~Anonymous

While it is true that I am not good at and don’t enjoy drawing or painting, I have found other new creative pursuits that I like.

Coloring for instance. I find it extremely meditative.

And apparently I am not alone, because there are now coloring books specifically for adults.

One of my clients told me recently that in the population at large, creativity peaks at age 5, then drops dramatically and doesn’t start to increase again until retirement.

It’s easy to see that, right? At retirement people finally have the time, inclination and the “I don’t give a damn” attitude to try something new.

But I would like to encourage you to start now.

Having creative outlets is such an important way to let go and be you.

~ It can allow you to get in touch with how you really feel.

~ It can help you move through something difficult.

~ It can ease your mind to the point that you allow fabulous new ideas to come forward.

~ It can put you in flow, where everything else falls away and what you are doing is the only thing that exists.

There are many things you want. Often the only thing standing in the way of what you want is you. Unleashing your creativity is one easy course of action to get out of your own way. It can open up so much for you.

Don’t wait until retirement. Start now.

I would love to hear about something creative you have started later in life. Leave a comment below and let me know what has worked for you.

And now I’m off to go create an incredible Anniversary evening.

Hugs,
Lorna

In order to change your life, you must first change your mind