“You seem happier since you’ve been writing again.”
That’s what a friend said to me recently. I smiled and thought about it for a moment. Yes, I did feel happier.
So much of this journey is to do with me learning me and coming to a place of self-understanding. I believe writing has helped me to feel happier because I am finally creating again.
To create something is to bring it into existence as a result of one’s own actions. There is a wonderful sense of accomplishment and joy in that; in expressing feeling and urge and for those emotions to result in a tangible creation that formerly did not exist. In some ways it is like giving birth. Be it writing, crafts, art, a classic car, even meal planning; you nurture something with your attention and ideas and imagination. It takes shape then joins the world and you’ve gotten it out of you.
For far too long my life was filled with “have to” projects and not “want to” projects. The freedom to write and create what I want, when I want is something I have no intention of taking for granted ever again. I have felt like a child in a candy store that went years without the taste of sweetness on their tongue. What else have I been missing, I wondered. What else did I love that I had forgotten?
As soon as I decided to make a happiness jar for 2015, I knew it just had to be decoupaged. A child-like excitement coursed through me. Collage! I had forgotten how much I used to absolutely love sitting with a stack of magazines cutting out letters and pictures and phrases and arranging them in beautiful collages. Doing exactly that was my New Year’s Day gift to myself and I relished the experience of flipping through magazines, searching for the right letters and photos that resonated with me, cutting and trimming and spelling out words.
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| Me, Cooper, and my collaged & decoupaged 2015 Happiness Jar. My very first entry for 1/1/15: “Creating this jar.” |
I have always been creative. This is who I am. I am certain that the suppression of that nature contributed to my frustrations the past two years. And now that I know this, I am learning to say “no” more often to things that will limit my time to be creative. It is a wonderful thing.
Is there something you used to love doing and just haven’t made the time for? Scrapbooking, maybe? Baking? Writing poetry or water coloring? Dig out that easel from the basement or take a trip to the crafts store and allow yourself to be inspired again. Creating is a wonderful thing.
love it!