On Being Creative

I'm never considered myself creative.

Actually, for the majority of my adult life I've used the phrase, "I'm not creative at all," whenever someone needed help thinking of a project or title for an article, etc.

Recently, I've been learning new things about creativity though.  Before, I felt like you had to have all these weird images and colors floating around in your head to be considered creative.  You had to be able to create an entire storyline or redecorate a room at the drop of a hat - that was "creative."  I could not do that, therefore, I was certainly not a creative person.

I've spent the past year preparing to start a wedding blog, which launched in January.  My "preparation" activities included browsing through other blogs and actually reading what they say (rather than just skimming and looking at the pictures).  I was able to sift through many different styles of writing and designing, ultimately to find what I believed was most appropriate for the audience I intended to capture.  I can't say my writing style is truly me, what I mean is I don't walk down the street and talk about gitty, girly things all day long.  But when I write for my readers, words come out in a way that I know will be interesting and engaging to them.

Many of my friends and family members have drenched me in compliments for my blog and my writing ability.  When I first heard someone tell me that I'm a creative person, I thought - "what? that's crazy!"  But the more I continued to hear it, the more I started to believe it's true.  And I can confidently say now that I am, in fact, a creative person.  I have even gone as far to say I am an artist.

So what does all this mean?  To me, it means that creativity can be learned.  That is doesn't have to be something you're born with, as I once thought.  My creativity came from seeing what others were doing and talking about, then making it my own.  And it worked!

There are still times when nothing "good" comes to my mind or when I get stuck in the middle of sentence because I can't find the right word.  At those times, I typically just take a break.  Then soon enough an amazing sentence will come to me, I'll stop to write it down, and then everything just seems to flow!

Yes, being creative is easier if it is a natural-born gift.  But not to fret, I'm here to tell you that it is also a skill that can be learned with practice and patience, like anything else.

March Is Here

I say it every year, month after month, "can you believe it's already _____ ?"  Because I can never believe how fast each month goes by.  I mean, it's already March!  I've been at my job for almost 2 months now, when did that happen?!

Well, two months is a good time for an update.  So far, 2011 looks promising.

The job is good, I really enjoy it.  The work is not terribly exciting but the people are great and it's relatively low stress.  I had to get used to the full-time schedule and I still miss being at home some days, but the structure is good for me.  At night I can just relax and not think about what needs to be done tomorrow.

Our lives overall seem busier though.  We always have something going on.  Jeff is at class until 10:00 pm on Thursdays, time that you would think I could use to get things done.  But mostly I've just been lazy on those nights.  Thursdays are now becoming my "get together with women I've been meaing to get together with" night, so that adds a little busyness.  I'm also writing for my wedding blog now, and it's a bit more time consuming than I anticipated. 

School is going well for Jeff though.  He passed his BFA review last weekend, which is fantastic! 

In other news, the adoption process is moving along.  We had our orientation last weekend and leanred a lot about Loving Alternatives and a lot about what to expect from here on out.  The short version is that  we have some more paperwork to turn in, a home study to get scheduled, and then a photo album to make.  Our hope is to get that all done by the end of the summer, then they'll be able to start showing our family to birthmothers.  From there, who knows when someone will pick us.

We're excited but it still seems pretty surreal, probably similar to the first few months of pregnancy.  In still something actually starts happening, it's hard to believe anything is really going to happen.

I would like to keep up with the process here.  I don't have a lot of words right now but I want to be able to go back and follow our journey through.  It was need to find out that the orientation was exactly one year from when we first sat down with Ross and Staci to talk about adoption.  We've learned a lot this past year and are eager to see what's next.

I'm a Morning Person

It's true, I'm that person all the "not a morning person" people hate.  I'll have conversation with you in the morning, I'll ask questions and make you think, it's best to stay clear.

What's interesting is about 6 months ago I started to question whether or not I was, in fact, a morning person.  All my life I have enjoyed waking up early (well, since late college actually).  Then this past year I started finding it harder and harder to get myself out of bed.  I thought that my sleep patterns might be changing for some crazy reason and that I was no longer a person who enjoyed the morning time.

I realize now what the problem was.  I didn't have any reason to get out of bed.  I didn't have to go into the office at any particular time, if at all, so what was special about that early morning moment?

Now that I'm back in the 8-5 routine, I am once again in love with my mornings.  Morning is the only time I have to just sit.  Oh wait - I can use my new favorite phrase here:  "il dolce far niente".  It's Italian and translates to say "the sweetness of doing nothing."  That's my favorite thing in the world!

My day is filled with stuff, I'm running here and there, thinking about this and that, talking to people, answering questions, planning my next step, and so on.  ALL DAY LONG!  I need a break, I need 20 minutes (preferably more, but I'll take what I can get) to clear my mind, have a cup of fresh coffee, put my feet up, and just breathe.  That's my morning time, breathing time, quiet time.  It's beautiful.

Welcome back, Morning!  I missed you.