Creativity is the love language of the universe
You will never convince me otherwise
Hey, Runners!
I’ve been injected with a little hope lately, and have found it kind of debilitating.
For the last eight years or so, it’s been a rough ride for me. Personally, for a little while, but that got better. Like… ridiculously better. But the other suffering, which presented as a non-stop barrage of heartbreak and despair and fear that has installed itself inside of me, constantly pumping a low-grade stream of stress hormones into my body, was removed last week.
The surprising side effect was an emotional exhaustion so complete that I found I could barely do anything. My internal stress monitor was out of whack. The hope had killed the pump, but without it, my internal stress gauge was going bonkers. Every little thing shot a tsunami of stress hormones through me. I was getting angry and cranky at the drop of a hat.
And the only thing that made me feel better was turning to a creative form that had never been my thing… art.
We run from Sept 9—June 13! Subscribe today to be one of the runners and get your novel, or other long-form fiction project, written this year!
I told you last week about how I’ve been doing Lisa Bardot’s Art Maker’s Club1 classes, and that helped me figure out how to draw a bull consistent with the rest of rotWIPs’ visual branding, but I didn’t tell you about how, when I was drawing, the stress hormones just… stopped.
Creativity is your birthright
There are people who don’t think they’re creative, and I get it. We have too narrow an idea of what creativity is. But the fact is, creativity is found in everything you do every day. From cooking a meal to creating a spreadsheet, you create new things out of other things all day, every day. The one trait that led to our rise as the most glorious (and also devastating) force this little blue rock has ever seen is our ability to think creatively.
Well, that and opposable thumbs.
But anyway. You were born to be creative. It’s in your DNA. It’s your birthright as a person. And more often than not, your creativity will be your salvation.
Today’s Comments Assignment:
What is your favorite creative outlet when you’re feeling stressed?
Write a novel. Draw some art. Cook a meal. Knit a sock.
We get so distracted by so many things. Life is A Lot, and it’s got some serious tiger energy right now, but you do not exist as a support system to the world. Rather, it’s the other way around. Your creativity—no matter what form it takes—creates meaning, and meaning is the love language of the universe.
So get talking, sugar.
Once again, Lisa Bardot is not sponsoring these links. She has no idea who I am. I just am really feeling the value of these classes. I don’t have sponsors on this newsletter.
My creative outlet is cross stitch and drawing. Get friends and adult color books - the best!
When stress hits, I either pick up a journal, a book to read, or some sort of art-making. Lately, I'm enjoying fooling around with vintage papers and making collage and journals from them. If the stress is intense or extraordinarily tangled, I'll write at the computer so my brain and fingers can be more in sync than they are when I write long-hand.