Why Having a Creative Project Matters More Than Ever

The pandemic took certainty, joy, and life. Creativity is an antidote to all the taking. It's a building back. A restoration. A gesture of love in a world that desperately needs it. That's because at its core, creativity generates something that did not exist before. It breathes gifts, ideas and kindness back in.

I have no doubt that each of you reading has a creative musing. A "maybe someday" project.

Well, I'm here to cheer you on and to tell you, "It's time."

Time to speak it aloud. To give it into the world.

In my case, "it" had been following me around for such a very long time.

And, in fact, it wouldn't let me go.

It was an idea. And it showed up exactly as author Liz Gilbert describes,

"Ideas are a disembodied, energetic life-form. They are completely separate from us, but capable of interacting with us – albeit strangely. Ideas have no material body, but they do have consciousness, and they most certainly have will. Ideas are driven by a single impulse: to be made manifest. And the only way an idea can be made manifest in our world is through collaboration with a human partner. It is only through a human’s efforts that an idea can be escorted out of the ether and into the realm of the actual."

It was a story about my experience. Or, I should say our experience -- that of my son and me as we navigated a daily stressor: the dreaded act of transitioning from awake to asleep. (For him, at least. Not me!)

Any working parent can likely relate to the dismembering shock of having your first child. Your entire life, routine and competency at keeping so many plates spinning is absolute chaos with the arrival of a child.

I remember thinking, "How come no one told me it would be so hard?"

It's like we're invited to revisit anything we've known how to do: how to exercise, communicate, get our jobs done, get to the grocery store, be someone else's child, be a sibling, raise a sibling.

Some resist the invitation to start over. And, some give themselves grace and build back a semblance of organization literally LEGO block by LEGO block.

As the chaos ebbed toward surrender, I was balancing a move to a new city, a new job, new colleagues and a toddler, I also found a new level of consciousness in a moment of desperation after two years of finding myself exhausted and and apparently incompetent at coaxing (begging?) my son to let go of his stalwart fight against sleep.

I returned to a practice my elementary school drama teacher taught us. In the world of mindfulness, it's a familiar body scan technique. It brings awareness and presence to one's body, focuses thoughts, and with a little customization allowed me to address what my son needed to hear in order to let go of his day and allow rest.

I felt such relief, I'm not kidding...I cried.

The stress and fight of bedtime flipped to treasured time of partnership and connection. Over time, it became a ritual and an expression of love.

And, that's when the big "IT" arrived.

The idea to package it up as a children's book and let it help other families turn a stressful, opposing battle into a gentle partnership.

As Gilbert writes,

"When an idea thinks it has found somebody – say, you – who might be able to bring it into the world, the idea will pay you a visit. It will try to get your attention. But sometimes – rarely, but magnificently – there comes a day when you’re open and relaxed enough to actually receive something. Now your job becomes both simple and difficult. You have officially entered into a contract with inspiration, and you must try to see it through, all the way to its impossible-to-predict outcome."

For five years, it wouldn't let go. It was hard and frustrating to navigate how to get it into the world. Traditional publishing felt like I needed to "know somebody who knows somebody." Along the way, the Universe led me to a wonderful indie publisher/children's book consultant, Laurie Wright. I fueled my empowerment with Seth Godin's wisdom (appropriately, a recent post is Ten Reasons to Write a Book). And, I 'auditioned' illustrators looking for the person who could bring the moments of this personal experience to life as imagery on a page.

My idea waited for me. Thankfully, it didn't leave. And, it led me to the right illustrator, Emma Coll, in the year I (and the world) needed a creative project more than ever.

Feet, Head...Go to Bed was published on Amazon February 9, 2021. And, I have to admit, it was WAY more fun than I anticipated. Holding a beautiful book in my hands and receiving photos of kids and friends holding it in their hands too was an invigorating reminder that every struggle can be turned into a gift. I realized that my creativity had been relegated to the shadows for so long that I'd actually settled for PowerPoint presentations and beautifully crafted emails as a viable substitute for self-expression.

The experience of unparalleled exhilaration of creation is waiting for you too. The partnership between you and an idea is out there -- the feeling as you and the idea work "together towards something intriguing and worthwhile".

Please, say "yes"! Then, let us all know what you've added to the life-scape we have the chance to be part of right now.

Resources

• For more Liz Gilbert inspiration, check out Big Magic.
• For help falling asleep (you or a young one), check out Feet, Head...Go to Bed.