I’ve been tidying up around the house lately –  you know Christmas is finished and all that extra stuff needs to find a home and decorations need to be packed away!!  

Some boxes from when I moved a year ago are still needing attention and there are more boxes than house space to fill!  So it’s really not a straightforward job, I need time to think about what I am giving away or gifting to others.  But that’s not what this blog is about.  It’s about the treasure that I found as I opened a box that I packed up over a year ago…

A spiral bound A4 notebook!  I know, I can hear your excitement from here…but seriously, it is one of the staples that I used every day  when I worked with adult learners in a formal environment. It is handy for planning, notes and notices, who has contacted me so say they can’t come to class and all sorts of inspirations quotes or ideas that I have jotted down.

I am serious when I say that finding this notebook felt like I had dug up buried treasure!   

‘We’ is the new ‘I’ – Creative Collaborations. That’s what I wrote in this notebook 5 years ago! Talk about dejavu! I just finished posting a blog with this very title yesterday!  Wow!  I loved it again as soon as I read it. Being creative can become a bit of a catch phrase for people who want to fit in.  It’s also used to describe a ‘type’ of person that employers are looking for.  Yet there are pitfalls to this common usage – it takes the real intention of creativity away from those who have creative tendencies flowing through their veins!

Artists are not happy unless the use their tools every day,  no matter what the medium. Quilters, embroiderers, woodworkers, gardeners, everyone who has to follow their passion as a creative person can be described as creative.  

What teaching showed me, is that a lot of people think they are not creative, but give them an opportunity to make 

something from little else apart from the thoughts in their head, and they can create the most incredible graphics, stories,  presentations, websites, food, jewelry – anything! It’s just that in the past someone has told them they have to stop doing things like that because it doesn’t fit in with ‘normal’ societal expectations.  Some have been told they are dumb and others that they are strange and don’t fit in. I know many of you will be nodding your heads in agreement.  We have seen decades of children being told they have to do things a certain way – traditional learning boundaries have constrained alot of natural creativity over their schooling lives.  Imagine what the world is missing out on!

I like being part of  a group of likeminded people who love to create, AND who have no fear of their work being misused, copied or causing envy between participants.  Having like minded people around you can bring personal inspiration to a level not experienced before. There’s a sense of creative freedom among similar people and a level of energy that becomes electrified with ideas, fascination at learning new techniques and genuine appreciate of what others can offer to our own work.

The barrier for me right now is being in a different place.  Yes I grew up here (I have moved back to my hometown), and yes there are a lot of other creative souls who like in the same area.  Where do I find more like minded people that I can create with?  I guess I have to get out there and find them but perhaps if you – yes you reading this post are a confessed creatologist and love sharing ideas and enhancing the level of another person’s satisfaction, you might like to leave a comment and get in touch.  We can collaborate online!

I salute those of you who, like me,  have acknowledged and own your different, your strange and your creative selves! Writers, painters, cooks, photographers, woodturners, anyone who loves to make and create stuff! Let’s see what we can create together!

Sue…