What lies within? A fascinating question don’t you think and one which might be interpreted in lots of ways but my interpretation is about the inner us!
I have spent my entire life waiting to be creative. I waited until just last year to start singing, until just a couple of months ago to start playing a musical instrument (the guitar), until the other week to be a song writer and am still waiting to be an artist. Well this is what I would tell people until recently but is it really true?
The truth of the matter is of course it isn’t. I wrote my first song on a beach in England. I left England when I was 10 so clearly I wrote it before then. I can still remember it, it was about feeling lonely and realising that the sea, sand and wind were there to keep me company. One line says ‘and I’ll take the sea for my friend’, see I can remember it. I can remember the tune as well. So the song I wrote the other week is far from my first, it is just the first I have acknowledged and actually shown to people.
I started singing long before I can remember. In my memory I have always sung, it just never felt good enough to put out there, so I sang in my alone moments. As a child that meant at the bottom of the garden, as an adult it was often in the car. This month alone I will probably sing on a stage (with people listening) at least 3 times. Again, I didn’t just start singing; I have just started letting people listen.
My music room is full to the brim with instruments; it is a music room to delight any musician. Everything has a story, some of the stories are uplifting and inspiring (like instruments brought home from travel in exotic places) and some are heavy and sad (the piano with all its memories, my dad’s piano accordion still seeped in sadness) and some are just new and exciting (the guitar that I can now pick up and strum or pluck). Music has always guided my soul; it’s just that I have only just allowed myself to follow its lead.
And the painting! Well the paints, canvas and easel are all here, tucked in cupboards and hiding under beds, but in April I will put them together without need for perfection or beauty, rather just because my spirit desires it.
Oh, and I didn’t even mention my book! Well it’s underway and I’ll tell you more about it when it is finished, but it is progressing wonderfully.
So the point of this is? Rather than waiting for your creativity to emerge, be unleashed or get discovered, think instead of all the creative things you already do and probably have always done, then feel free to add some more. We are all creative, I truly and firmly believe this, are you letting the world share that precious part of you, or like so many are you hiding it away, afraid of being judged and found wanting? Whether your passion is cooking, gardening, writing, drawing, singing, dancing, sport or any of the endless options available to us, celebrate your passion by unveiling your creativity today. The only person who has to enjoy it, appreciate it, look forward to it is you, and if others do too then that’s just a bonus. Good luck!