As women we are the ultimate creators
"The feelings of needing those around you to love, appreciate and value your creation, much like an artist needing approval of their work is a common thread."
Medical News Today states that pursuing creative activities as a hobby or for a living, can unleash our imaginations and need for free self-expression, it's pretty clear that making things is part and parcel of our human nature.
"Creating a Life That's Truly Yours"
-Global Woman
I love the quote above by my business coach Yamini Toohey. It sums up the essence of what she does which is empowering women to create a life that they want for themselves and not one that others expect of them.
Creativity is an interesting subject because we all do it whether we acknowledge it or not. As women we are the ultimate creators, bearing children to create the next generation and re-populating the world around us.
My partner is an artist in the traditional form and this can make it difficult for me to see myself as creative.
For me, my creativity has focused mainly around creating businesses. I had my first business venture at the age of 6 running a market stall in my native Nigeria. My first business in Australia was called D'jaw, a cosmetic range for women of colour. Then Raw Fashion Agency which I ran for 14 years followed by my current business, The Healing Process.
I think what makes something creative rather than just a job, is the passion, surrender and total commitment to the project or venture. There is so much invested and so much at stake because you commit all of you into the process.
According to Psychology Today, there is a link between creativity and mental illness.
Creativity and mental illness both involve deviations, sometimes fairly extreme ones, from normal modes of thought.
Symptoms of mental illness differ from normal thinking and behaviour, and creativity requires special or uncommon capacities.
But there are also sharp differences in effects.
Mental illness symptoms which include compulsions, obsessions, delusions, panic attacks, depression, and personality disorders, deviate in stereotyped and frequently banal ways, whereas creativity involves novel and rich results.
A common claim is that extreme euphoria and productivity are features of both creative work and bipolar illness. With the illness, however, these features are involuntary, devoid of judgement, and distorted, whereas creative artists’ productivity is purposeful, and euphoria results almost always from extraordinary accomplishment.
Suffering is an intrinsic component of mental illness, but despite traditional romantic beliefs about creative people, such disruption seldom contributes directly to creative inspiration. Suffering may come from a lack of recognition and its consequences, neither a direct cause nor an effect of mental illness.
Creating a business requires that you invest or risk everything to bring forth an idea, dream or concept into reality or the market place.
The feelings of needing those around you to love, appreciate and value your creation, much like an artist needing approval of their work is a common thread.
It's difficult not to take it personally if your project is rejected or not appreciated by those around you and it can cause you to doubt your talent and worth, which can lead to anxiety and depression.
Medical News Today states that pursuing creative activities as a hobby or for a living, can unleash our imaginations and need for free self-expression, it's pretty clear that making things is part and parcel of our human nature.
Drawing, painting, or molding objects from clay has been scientifically proven to help people to deal with different kinds of trauma. Art therapy has been shown to help people express experiences that are too difficult to put into words, such as a diagnosis of cancer, experiences of domestic violence and other forms of trauma.