SOCIAL MEDIA

Being Brave in my Creative Life

10.06.2017

I have been blogging now for 11+ years. My blogging pretty much coincides with a time that I started discovering that I loved photography and when scrapbooking became a full fledged passion. All of this started at a point in time in my life that was really, really, difficult. I think this is all connected...and while I won't share the details of that hard time, I think it's important to acknowledge that it served as a catapult of sorts for me. I love this place, it's like my playground for arts and crafts, writing, music, it's a place that I can figure stuff out, share different interests...it's a place where I can be who it is that I feel that I am - at any given time. I can't tell you how much I love that I can look back and see photos and projects and recall exactly what it is that was going on at the time in my life. I love that I catch Zoey looking at it sometimes, that she enjoys looking back at past holidays or photos from when she was little. It's just so very cool. I'm so glad that I have this place...and that no matter who is or isn't reading, I still, always seem to come back to it. For me.

Which brings me to the topic of being creative, and what that looks like for me. I have loved scrapbooking for so very many years. It ebbs and flows, as all things will do...but I always, always, come back to it. I've art journaled, painted, stamped, etc., but I've always come around full circle back to scrapbooking. I've tried to explain what it means to me to those that I am closest to and I pretty much tell them that it's like a therapy of sorts. That I can actually feel my brain start to sort itself out after a long, challenging day. It recharges me in the deepest of places. I love writing down and recording little life moments. I have always worried that in my real life, people just wouldn't get it, so I don't really talk about it in my day to day. I haven't (in the past) really shared it on my personal Facebook page or Instagram, but rather, saved those things for this space alone. Lately however, (maybe because it's going to be my 40th birthday soon) I'm wanting to acknowledge this part of who it is that I am. It's a pretty big part and I need to embrace that I can eat healthy, care about world events, enjoy hiking, mushroom foraging, all types of music, reading and having intelligent conversations with friends, (etc., etc.) AND scrapbooking! Perhaps the easiest way to explain what scrapbooking means to me would be to share this quote:

"She gets goosebumps from tiny, perfect things. Seeing the stars. Fruit trees in bloom. The scent of dinner from a neighbor's house, a phone call at the right time, a bar of exotic chocolate. She keeps a list in her wallet of the gorgeous parts of the everyday: maple leaves, new perfume, slow-cooked tomato sauce. She adds to it all the time. She is rich with wonder." - From the book, I Am Her

It's the perfect contentment that comes with sitting with a memory or a thought and reliving it, thinking about the people or sentiments involved and feeling all the feels that go along with it. There are moments when I will feel such huge joy when creating, and I know that it's because of the very act of slowing down and thinking about those people that I love the most. It's almost like a form of meditation.

I have been cleaning house so to speak in my life lately...I'm taking care of myself as I have never before when it comes to my nutritional health and it's almost as though a switch has been flipped, I feel myself coming back to myself. Which is making me realize that I also need to have scrapbooking have a more active role in my everyday life again. It's interesting how active we need to be in preserving and protecting what is important to us...and how easy it is to let those very things that make us, us, go to the wayside when things in life get tough, busy, different. Since I've been making some changes regarding my health, I've been feeling so much better...and therefore I have been listening to the craving that I've had to create again. Before, I had the desire but I didn't have the energy or drive to actually do it. And that, in turn made me feel sad and depressed and not very inspired! A viscous cycle for sure!

For me, it seems that once I acknowledge something...invite some truth into my life, good things follow. I've opened up to bigger things again, things that mean something to me, (creating and scrapbooking) and I feel like because of that, doors have opened. Even ones that I didn't know were there! It's so amazing how this is one of life's truths! I truly believe this to be the case.

It's kind of crazy to think, that 11 years ago, this month, I posted this picture here on my blog of a layout that I made of Zoey. It was my first every blog post.There have been so very many since. I'm so glad that this thing called scrapbooking is a part of my life, still.

(The first scrapbook layout that I ever shared on-line, 2006.)

All this to say...make sure you hold tight to those things that you hold dear. No matter how big or little you may think those things may be. They are important, they make you, you, and tucking them away or not acknowledging their importance will only make you struggle down the road when seeking authenticity. I have realized that scrapbooking isn't just a silly hobby that I partake in. I know this, always have known, and the thing is, if I don't give off that I think it's just a silly thing, then my family won't think it is (they don't), my closest friends won't think it is, etc., etc. If I can't own up to my passions (big and small), gifts and share them, then I am telling my daughter that she should tuck away and hide her gifts. Something I would never, ever, wish to do. So...what is it that you are missing in your life? What gifts do you have that you can share that maybe you aren't? What is something that you love that you need to be re-introduced to?

Things to think about!

XO,





hvluv2ski said...

Beautifully Said..
No Time like the PRESENT.. to Live in the Present..
Love to Follow ..

Blessings!

Helen in VA.

Jennifer Davis said...

I agree Helen! Thanks so much for letting me know you are reading...Hugs!