STEPHIE'S BEADS AND BAUBLES

I have been thinking a lot about creativity and what makes me happy .

I look back to around 2012 or so, and I was an active blogger and blog reader. I did not really know that YouTube existed and I was in my studio all day creating, writing,reading other blogs, as well as books, and having so much fun. I loved being in my studio and I enjoyed the process of creating blog posts. Adding pictures and sharing my thoughts and feelings as well as sharing what I was creating.

We were living in a little two bedroom apartment and for the first time in our lives had no kids at home and we had moved an hour away from our house, letting our grown daughter and her family rent our home, so we could see if we liked to be close to my husbands job to eliminate his hour trip each way, and to see if we wanted to move up to that area.

When for many reasons, one being, too far from the kids, and two being the area was just way more expensive than we were comfortable with, things seemed to changed. We did buy a second home, letting the kids rent our house a bit longer and then we switched houses so we could come home. Our daughter still rents that house from us 12 years later, but now with a different husband and two young kids they added to the family.

Once back in our home, I started to set up my studio and things happened where kids had to move back in and then back out and it took a while to get where we are now. Empty nesters using all three extra bedrooms for our side hustles and creativity. I have a studio, my husband has a stained glass and watch repair studio for our reselling of watches, and we have a resell room for our up to now part time resell business that will be going full time in the months to come.

Around 2017 or so, I discovered YouTube. It has been a blessing and a curse for me. I need to really step back and watch it a lot less. I do not read anymore, I have not been blogging or otherwise writing anymore, it is a creative energy destroyer. I am no longer happy watching other people live thier lives, I would rather create my own ideal life and life each day having fun and being creative and not watching what others are doing constantly. I can enjoy watching here and there, but the days of hours of YouTube is over.

I found my creativity has gone downhill since I started my YouTube adventure, both as an avid watcher and content creator. I do intend to create videos, but I am distancing myself quite a bit from the platform otherwise. Creating is what I intend to do, not watching others create.

I have talked to a lot of other people who have also noticed that they do not read anymore. They are not as creative as they used to be. So, I am not alone in figuring out that something has changed and not for the better. It is time for me to change and get back to being creative and engaged in my own life again and spend time in my studio doing fun and creative things, writing, vlogging, making jewelry, painting, and just having fun being a maker again. Just for the sake of being creative in this wonderful studio filled to the brim with amazing things to create with !!!

If you find you are not finding time to read like you used to. If you stopped creating and making things, or are not writing anymore. Look at what you spend your free time doing and see if it is time for you to make a change as well.

Being creative is so important, however you like to create. Baking, cooking, gardening, sewing, crafting, painting, making jewelry. It is not about being good at it that is important. It is just about doing something creative. Let’s face it, you cannot get good at something if you do not keep at it so you can get better at it. Not many people can cook right out the gate, we have to learn by starting simply and learning and growing in the kitchen with either cooking or baking. Very few people pick up a paint brush and do a masterpiece right out the gate. It takes time and practice and patience to get good at anything.

Give yourself the gift of being creative. Let yourself learn to do something fun. The world of art and crafting is huge now. So many amazing things to do. Nothing makes me crazier than someone saying, I am not creative and using that as an excuse to not try to do anything. Try something. Be creative. Walk through Hobby Lobby or Michaels and find something fun to do. Really give it your all and see if you love it. Work through the hard and see if it is something you want to keep doing. If not, pick something else. You do not know if you can draw, or paint, or write unless you try it. Pick up a camera and take some pictures. Have fun with it. Crochet, knit, paint by number, or paint wooden objects you can buy to paint, it does not have to be a painting !! Flower arranging, gardening, baking, make some jewelry, do something creative every day, read a book, write a book, or just a poem. Believe in yourself. You might be shocked by what you are actually good at once you find something that you love to do !!

The world has so many things you can do and experience. Lets stop living other peoples lives and live our own. A bit of watching is fine, but there comes a time when watching resellers and what they do, takes away from actually reselling yourself. That has been my experience.

I picked the picture for the top of my page for a reason. Look at kids. They create because it is a part of them. They need to create. They draw, they color, they paint, they sing, they dance. It is just a part of them. Find that part of you again. It is deep inside of you but creating is your birthright, it is what we are born to do.

My goal going forward is to bring out that creative part of me again , that inner child, and let her loose to just create for the sheer fun of it.