Living Life by Design

photo by Alice Popkorn on Flickr

Creativity. Many years ago as I began to explore and discover my unique design, creativity played a huge role. In fact, as I began to uncover who I really was, creativity eventually became a big part of my life. Because of that experience, I am on a mission to help others bring creativity into their lives. Creativity unleashes something inside of us.

As kids, we are incredibly creative. We draw. We imagine. We build. We play. But for some reason, as we move into the adult years, those activities tend to lessen. Many times by the time we reach our 30s or 40s, those activities have disappeared. It’s almost as if they are a waste of time. And, that my friends, is very unfortunate.

By the time I reached my mid-30s, those activities, for the most part, were gone. I was working. I had gone back to school 5-6 years earlier and got an MBA. I had even done some consulting on my own. But, I began to wonder what’s next? I had achieved many of my career goals. I liked where I was living. I enjoyed community with a group of friends. But there was this nagging feeling. Why wasn’t I ok? Wasn’t this everything I had been hoping for?

I can be a rather active person. I love the outdoors. I tried more activity – bicycling, running, walking. That helped, to a degree, for about the next 30 minutes and then some, but the nagging feeling eventually came back. I did a new haircut. I tried a different style of clothes. I had more fun. Yet, even though I enjoyed each of those activities, or liked the changes – it still wasn’t enough. I eventually realized that whatever this nagging feeling was – doing more, being more, having more fun, just wasn’t going to take care of it.

By my late 30s, I was annoyed. Why couldn’t this nagging feeling just go away? Why couldn’t I just be ok with status quo? Finally, out of irritation, frustration, and annoyance – I took this nagging feeling, whatever it was – grabbed it by the neck and said who are you and why are you doing this to me?

That, my friends, began this incredible journey of discovering my own unique creativity.

It was scarey. It was difficult. It was stepping into the unknown. (It still is many of those things.) None of us like change, at least not change where we are way out of our comfort zone, where we feel like we don’t have control, and especially if the change is coming from within us. Yet, the journey is exciting.

This unsettled feeling inside of us is due to our desire to live life fully. We aren’t ones to settle for mediocrity, for life at status quo. We have something inside of us that drives us to live beyond that.

That unsettling feeling, in actuality, is a blessing. As uncomfortable it may be, or scarey, or hard, or difficult – that unsettling feeling forces us on this journey to discover our own unique creativity. I want to encourage you to let that unsettled feeling be ‘ok’. Not to fight it, but to let that feeling propel you on – on to something new, to something unknown, to something you may not know is inside of you.

When I could no longer ignore this unsettledness inside of me, I began to learn things about me that I never knew. For me, the journey took me into this world of art, of design, of training others. That is my creativity. Your creativity will be unique to you.

Being creative doesn’t necessarily mean you are this outstanding painter, or sculpturer, or illustrator. It may be that, but it could also be a writer, an accountant, a lawyer, a stay at home mom that enjoys cooking, a soccer mom that enjoys being outside…being creative is more than ‘art’, it’s a way of living.

When we live a creative lifestyle, we tend not go get stuck. We see options. We see opportunities. We live life with wonder.

Yes, there are still moments where it’s scarey or difficult. Yet, I wouldn’t go back.

A creative life is a full life.

Have you experienced that unsettled feeling? What have you done about it? What has worked? What hasn’t?

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creativity, life purpose, living creatively, unique design