It’s funny how there are things about yourself that you come to believe are self-evident, that you have never questioned, then suddenly something changes and you realise that your thoughts and beliefs have been limiting you, eroding your potential. When we are very young, we are probably at our most creative and our most curious. Over time however, these traits are often lost or ‘beaten’ out of us. I don’t recall ever thinking that I was ‘creative’ although when I was at school, I tried lots of things, but was never one of those people who are considered the creative types. I recall doing things like screen printing and painting in art class, but never felt I was any good. The area where I felt most creative was writing, and I think that all of my life writing has been there in the background mostly, as the thing I think I can do. I have dabbled in poetry and short story writing, mostly for creative writing courses and my own amusement. When I say amusement, I really mean therapy. Writing has always been my way of trying to stay sane and making sense of how I felt and how the world works. Its my outlet. I have always found that keeping a journal or just writing about what is bothering me, helps me to get perspective. And to some extent, that is what I am doing right now.
As I have grown older, I have come to believe that everyone has creative abilities and that expressing these whether publicly or privately is positive for our mental health. I think I have also widened my definition of what I think creativity is.
The Oxford dictionary defines it as: The use of imagination or original ideas to create something; inventiveness.
So whilst, colloquially we tend to think of it in terms of the arts, creativity can be anything. The use of imagination is the key I think, and this is something we also seem to be far better at as children than adults. The main thing though is that we follow through with those imaginings and create a new thing.
For most of my adult life, I have been busy with life; relationships, work, making ends meet, children; all of these things keep you so busy in mid-life that often its hard to find time, energy or even inclination to be ‘creative’.
As an older person, I am finding that I see things differently now that I have time to look. I think again, that as children and older people we see detail in the world and gain delight from small things much more readily than we did in mid-life.
I know that I am now much more aware of things like plants, birds and insects than ever before, and suddenly find myself wanting to photograph them, and I am even thinking maybe I could draw or paint them. Clouds and the colour of the sky at dawn, the light from the setting sun on the leaves and trunks of trees, all of these things are suddenly apparent to me, where before I might have said, yeah that’s nice, now I am in awe of the beauty. I am finding that photography is giving me great pleasure, particularly because it makes me see things in ways I have not before.
I have no skill at all at drawing, but I am much more open to the idea that I could learn these things. A young man who sat near me at my old workplace had a sign on his desk, which really resonated with me. It said: Skills are built not born. All our lives we believe we can’t do things, we tell ourselves ‘I’m not good at that’, even before we have even tried. Of course, there are some skills that you can learn but will never be great at, but in most cases you can learn enough to do a creditable job of it. I doubt that if I learned to play the piano, that I could ever become a concert pianist, but I could probably learn enough to play for my family and my own pleasure.
So, now I find myself at a crossroads in my life. I have been retrenched from my corporate role of 18 years, and at the age of 62 I realise that perhaps my time in the corporate world has come to an end. I’m not too sorry about this, although I do miss the daily interactions with people that come as a matter of course in your working day in an office, and I miss the challenge of problem solving and idea generation that working life brings. But I have an opportunity to pursue a different course now. What that is remains to be seen. I am toying with starting up a small business, as well as writing a novel and improving my photography skills. I am also keen to learn to draw, at least in a basic way, so I can reproduce a likeness of something that is recognisable. There are great online courses for almost anything you could possibly want to learn these days, so learning new things is high on my agenda. As I live in country Victoria, I am also looking out for opportunities to get involved in my community.
And of course, blogging. This is a new passion for me, an outlet for my need to write and express my views on whatever is on my mind. If no one reads it, no matter, the main thing is getting the words down.
Sue's next thing 