Free your creative spirit!

Any of us who have been drawn to (obsessed with?) making things can attest to it not really being a choice.  We have to make things or we feel like a part of us is not alive.  An incredibly wide range of creative endeavors can be an outlet for us from gardening or sewing to painting, writing, building, knitting, designing, the list goes on and on.  We humans were meant to create in some fashion or form.  We all have a creative spirit, sometimes it’s a bit buried under the rubble of fear and negative messages and stories we may have received or told ourselves. For myself, I first expressed it through embroidery, knitting, needlepoint, felting, dying fiber and spinning.  I longed to paint but was scared and thought that "I wasn't THAT kind of artist."  I didn't realize how much I was holding myself back with this false story.  I started following artists on Instagram whose work I loved and began taking classes on Skillshare.  I was scared the whole way. Occasionally I would just stop for a time because I didn't like a lot of what I was painting.  Then I'd go back and work some more and then after about two years of this, I really started to like what I was painting more and more.  I still follow this process today, following people who inspire me, learning, experimenting, growing. And I'm still scared when I venture into some new technique or style.  I push the fear aside as best I can and keep going. The book, The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, is an invaluable tool in this regard. If a part of you thinks that creating is indulgent and frivolous, push that aside too because when you create the way you were meant to, you bring a gift to the world.  I get messages daily about how my work or teaching uplifts people and brings them joy.  You never know how you can affect someone and what they are going through.  I share this not to boast, but to inspire you to keep going in whatever creative endeavor is calling you.