Have you ever felt the need to fill your free time with ‘something’?
Me too!
I picked up all kinds of things to do. Until I found my direction.
Although some ‘things’ – also known as plants – are still there. 🌱
Before I kick off…
I’ll tell you a little bit about me.
- A mum to three fantastic boys – oh boy do they keep me on my toes!
- An amazing rescue dog – the calm in the storm that’s our life.
- A newfound love for digital design and creation – hence this blog.
- A love for writing that has always been there – handy when you start a blog.
One more time…
The house we had called home for so long looked strange with our belongings packed up in boxes.
It’s surprising how little fits in a box and how many boxes we actually needed for clothes and personal belongings.
Piles of boxes everywhere, just waiting for the movers to pick them up. It will take a couple of weeks before they were scheduled to follow us to England.
England, the country where the boxes never got opened and unpacked ever again.
I had said my goodbyes, with a heavy heart, unaware of how this would all unfold.
Left my dog to live with my parents, with an even heavier heart.
A story for another time…
One more time, we walked the streets of our home country, the village I had lived in for so many years and where I met ‘him’.
One more time, we are waiting for public transport to take us to the airport.
One more time…
Will ‘he’ be there?
The bus driver drove us past the familiar landscape of flat meadows and cows towards Amsterdam.
I think about ‘him’.
The emails ‘he’ had written, telling me ‘Don’t come to England. I will not pick you up from the airport.’
But how could I not go to England?
Our house had been rented out for at least a year and, after giving notice, I was officially unemployed.
But most importantly, Toby had loved his taster day at his new school and was ready for our next step.
I couldn’t take that away from him.
I had a backup plan.
Not knowing yet that our lives would turn into one backup plan after the other.
If he didn’t show up, we’d stay for one night at a hotel at the airport. The next day, we would travel to the area and find somewhere temporary to stay, so Toby could start school and I could find a more permanent place to rent.
Photo by Abdiel Hernandez Villegas, https://www.pexels.com/photo/backpack-on-suitcase-on-airport-16340997/
‘He’ would soon see that we were good people and that we loved ‘him’.
After all, I was pregnant and ‘he’ had been so happy when we found out.
My parents were waiting for us at the airport.
We felt excited and sad at the same time.
We said goodbye one more time…
But we’d be back soon, and as often as possible.
It was August, but we’d be back in October, while I was still allowed to fly and Toby had his first school holiday in his new country.
With our suitcases, we walked to the place where ‘he’ had picked us up from so many times before.
It rained – typically – and it was getting dark.
‘He’ wasn’t there
Luckily, we could hide inside.
I told Toby that we’d wait for one hour and if ‘he’ didn’t show up, I’d find a hotel for the night.
Fifty-five minutes later, ‘he’ was there…
And drove us to our new home, as if ’he’ had never told us not to come to England.
The start of how I ended up needing to be creative.
Years later, I finally understood why I had felt the need to create.
Creativity became more than something to fill my time. It became something that helped me cope, process, and slowly find my way forward.
5 Things Being Creative Does for Me
The reason I could no longer ignore the urge to be creative is, again, a story for another time.
But to this day, I feel the benefits it has for me.
So much so that I want to explore it further and share it with you.
I want to write content. Writing is something I have always loved.
I want to ‘create’ with my hands, I love air-dry clay.
And I want to create digital designs – something I am excited to learn.
There is a lot of information on the internet about brain health and creativity. Creativity has so many potential benefits and below, I’ll explain the benefits it has for me.
Maybe it will help you too.
It reduces my stress
The moment I lose myself in a creative project, even for a little while, all the bad in the world seems to disappear.
- It helps me regulate my emotions
The whole process of creating makes me feel so much calmer.
- It improves my mood
When I finish a project, I really feel I’ve accomplished something.
- Selfcare
Giving yourself time to create is an act of love.
I deserve love, and so do you.
- It connects
This can be IRL or through finding like-minded people online.
I love watching other people create, seeing what inspires them and being part of a creative community.
What role does creativity play in your life? I’d would love to hear your thoughts.