My first blog post came out on Creating Confidently one year ago today! 365 days dedicated to creativity, 85 blog posts in 52 weeks, this is all about a year in review.
First a word of thanks to my support system and to all of you. Without my support system, my ever encouraging husband and family I wouldn’t have been able to push myself to keep writing through exams and life events with such joy and peace. Without all of you I’d have no one to talk to, so thank you for reading, and interacting for the past year.
It has been a year of exploration and establishment of new rituals and routines within my creative practice. Giving my time to the practice of creativity, making it more of a priority in my life, has given me time and energy back. I've also been on a journey learning about burnout and overstimulation and how those things come up in my life and practice, and how to better navigate, manage, and hold myself in grace during those moments and periods of exhaustion and overwhelm. But I have found that consistent creativity helps me through those periods.
Living the Slogan - Explore. Create. Grow
This past year I’ve really tried to embrace our slogan to explore, create, and grow in my creativity. As much as I wanted to share my thoughts and spread the word about what creativity can be in our everyday lives, this blog was really an accountability partner for me to live that life, to really expand my creativity and share that experience as I go through this journey of growth and discovery with you.
Explore - This past year of blogging I have explored the world of content creation like never before. My Cringe and Create campaign also challenged me to learn new mediums and tackle creative disciplines I’m not proficient in and share them anyways! This push to explore newness and develop layers to those creative activities I already enjoy has been deeply enriching. However, I have also failed miserably at exploring some key creative pursuits I have touted wanting to learn such as calligraphy, embroidery, and really getting into the nitty gritty of pastel work. However, I have opened those doors, and now I am gearing up to commit to showing up in the exploration of these activities.
Create - I’ve created more content than I ever thought I would. I wrote the first draft of a novel to completion. I’ve made graphics, and done home improvement projects, choreographed more intentionally, and built a website to share it all on. I feel so blessed to have created with so much abundance this past year. There are 85 blog posts out! Going from 0 to 85 in a year is something I will always be proud of. I’ve also learned to create from a more peaceful place, from a place of cultivated process and joy.
Grow - Because of my dedicated writing practice from journaling to blogs and manuscripts, my writing has definitely developed a new style and voice. I like the changes that have come from practice, and the nuanced ways the content writing varies from my fiction style. I think, as with all things, growth happens from doing, from practice. It doesn’t always make perfect, but it always makes progress.
A year in words:
I feel Blessed - by the audience I have on instagram and the blog. The support of my family for the creative work I dedicate myself to. I feel blessed to be able to dedicate the time and effort to pursuing my creativity; to be in a day job where I get to be creative and love the work I do in addition to all of the creative work I do on the side. I know that I am blessed to have the opportunity to find my creative passions and outlest and be able to engage with them and share them.
I am Dedicated - to my creativity. This year has given me the chance to truly dedicate myself to developing my creative voice. I have never stuck to self imposed deadlines, a journaling practice, a writing schedule, the way I have this year. I feel dedicated not only to creativity, but to creativity as a part of my self care and fulfilment in a way that enriches my life.
It has given Opportunity - to pursue professional level creativity in content writing and choreographic risks. Without the practice of this blog, I would not have had the confidence to grow into a paid writing position, to think I would be worthy of creating professionally on any level. Creativity opens opportunities around us and I am grateful to have heard its call.
I have been Enriched - I feel like I am better able to serve others in my life because of my creative enrichment. Because I feel full, my soul feels fed, my well is topped up and I am better able to give to others in my life - to share more of who I am, to offer encouragement, to give of my energy in more meaningful ways because I have given myself the chance to fuel up through creativity.
What this year has meant to my creative journey: Commitment to Creativity
This year has truly been a commitment to my creativity, but more than that, it has been a year of being committed to myself - to following through on my creative promises. I am so proud of myself for showing up, for taking it slow, for pulling back when life got too busy, for recognizing that creativity wasn’t draining my energy, but giving me more of it. I created boundaries in my creative practice to make time and space in my life to create the things that spoke to me, for asking for support, for asking to be seen and heard, but not letting the numbers or the followers or the likes validate or deter me from my path of peace and joy. I committed to my creativity, committed to creating, and that has been the greatest asset to me this past year. By committing to creativity I committed to soul care, to myself. I committed to showing up for myself. I committed to the life giving act of creating. It can feel silly to commit to something as fluffy as creativity, but really I think that creativity has a core of steel that tests you, challenges you, defies you even, but at the end of the day it is a beckoning to indulge in expression. Each day I create, each time I follow through on my commitment to creativity I find myself craving more of it. Consistency is key, and that only comes with commitment to a cause.
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