Every one of
us is tested off and on through life and I am no exception. Over the last five
months a loved one has been faced with a grave health situation which caused our lives
to be turned upside down and quite frankly I felt my life had come to an abrupt
stop. My brand new business had to be put on hold as this young lady is 100%
reliant on me for the time being and that is OK. Hospital admissions followed by discharge then
second daily blood tests which turned into us spending six hours each of these
days waiting for blood results and future medication instructions was our life
for the first three months of this year. It has basically been this way now for
five months now but we are used to it I guess.
Through
these months her health concerns continued but I knew that I had to have another
focus because we had started to feel a little low as she could not study nor work either as she was so unwell and we have no idea how long
she would be under this “medical microscope.” I can certainly say that if it
wasn’t for my creative side, I would have suffered. I have always been a very
keen crafter and cook and love these so so much they both make my heart sing and this has been my saving grace.
My teenager had never ever shown any interest in craft and in fact I know she
would agree that she found craft possibly the lowest thing on her list of things I find incredibly boring. However, after months of nothingness except
hospital visits and medication changes, I suggested I teach her to crochet and
to my amazement she took me up on the offer. I was so impressed with her change
of heart. So she now knows how to crochet. The blanket she is creating is still
a work in progress but that is OK too. You see, anything is possible.
With her happily occupied with her new creativity, I went back to stocking up for my new business www.creativelycouture.aradium.com and I am more than happy to continue to sew and stock up until we have a more definite medical outcome and I have time to spend more time on my business, finding stockists etc. On one of my 'not so great' days I sat in front of my computer and googled, trying to find somewhere, anywhere to possibly stock my wares which I thought was going to be an impossibility due to my mental attitude. How wrong I was. I have found a fab shop where I rent a space each month and that makes my heart sing. All it took was a simple email and hey presto!
It was while signing the contract for this shop space that the owner and I were chatting and I was singing the praises of this fabulous shop which supports us, the local artists and it was she who suggested that she felt that if more people were creative that possibly mental health problems would be less and I absolutely agreed and so too did my “new to the craft of crocheting” daughter. I truly believe this.
Now by being creative I don’t mean to go and buy yourself a kiln or sewing machine or easel and become Andy Warhol overnight. No, I simply mean I know we all have some creativity in us and we just need to find it. What makes you smile? Gardening, painting, drawing (even stick men), writing a blog, reading, cooking, dog walking, maybe sounds like you? These are all signs of creativity in my opinion. Sitting alone in a house/apartment day after day is not good for your mental health, research has proven this. I rented an apartment many years ago and lived by myself and I know it was the loneliest time of my life, so I am speaking from experience. Even living with friends/family and just working to pay those bills, in my opinion, is not living. We all need to have interests, each and every one of us. Creativity makes my heart sing and I know always will.
So for those
of you out there who have just been ‘hit’ by some gut-wrenching news or just
feel that life is just not what it should be, that nothing seems to make your
heart sing, hang in there. Life can get better but you need to help find
that positivity by finding your creative side and then get moving, literally, because no one can find it for you but you. Going
for daily walks is great. Too lazy or just couldn’t be bothered
to go for a walk......make the effort, please. You will not regret it. If you
are living alone and feel low, find someone to apartment-share. If you have
just lost the love of your life recently, yes feel sad for a while but please get out
there and do something positive.
I know your creative
side exists. Only you can find yours. It is there somewhere. My daughter who detested craft found hers. Make
an effort and free up those concerns about life. There will always be clouds in
the sky but we need them to allow us to appreciate the better days and make your heart sing just as mine does, it may be a little off key some days but that is OK.
