Flattened Festivities, Noise Pollution and Creative Encouragement

Moving swiftly on from December...

‘Tis the season of damp and murky walks!

Hello, Happy New Year and How are you? 

Did you smash December, dashing around in a sporty fashion conquering your to-do list, or were you (like me) coughing wretchedly into your elbow and limping your way through the last stretch of the year? By mid Advent it always begins to feel like some sort of psychedelic ‘It’s a Knockout’ to me, giant Santas popping up on every corner to stymie progress! This year in addition to the festivities my husband had a hip replacement on the 19th, and me and one of my daughters were completely flattened by food poisoning on the 23rd. Thank goodness for wonderful family who not only pitch in but will happily overlook any unfinished tasks and make merry regardless.

Husband is making good progress, but the mandatory sleeping on his back is playing havoc with my already fragile sleep patterns. His snoring is truly epic, even the dog sighs and leaves the room once he gets going so I am open to any earplug suggestions you can offer since the little foam ones are not only uncomfortable but inevitably ping out of my ears leaving me once again exposed to the noise pollution beside me.

Gertie reclaiming her rightful space once the snorer has vacated.

However, lest this all sound rather gloomy I actually began the year with an Encouragement Session from lovely Barrie of Feasts and Fables. When Susie Mawhinney (another Substack read which I highly recommend) shared a post about these sessions my interest was immediately piqued and I didn’t hesitate to make contact. What a joy to be generously gifted someone else’s time and interest in oneself, to enjoy a conversation about creative projects and a creative life with no underlying sales pitch. I came away feeling genuinely encouraged and enthusiastic about the year ahead. While I am not a resolution maker and find the endless ‘year in review’ and self improvement plans of January draining and unwelcome, I too experience the desire for a fresh start and welcome the opportunity to begin again. 

By way of a very brief introduction for those of you who have recently subscribed, I have had many incarnations in this life alone, mostly while following my husband’s career around the globe and in truth rather losing myself along the way. We returned to the UK nearly nine years ago since when I have alternately tortured myself and embraced the creative person that I am. I feel the weight of others’ expectations heavily and am inclined to give too much of myself away in the pursuit of being a good person with some sort of positive influence amongst all the horrors of the world around us. But this year I am going to make myself a large poster of the following Brené Brown quote and am determined to prioritise time to bring to fruition the many, many projects in my imagination.

“Unused creativity is not benign. It metastasizes. It turns into grief, rage, judgement, sorrow, shame.” Brené Brown.

I’ll keep it short and sweet this week for I suspect you, like me, are overwhelmed with New Year missives. But I’d like to pay forward the encouragement, so if you ever find yourself relating to the quote above why not reach out and we can encourage each other in our endeavours, however great or small, for what I learned from running creative workshops (in my Simpson Sisters incarnation) is that it matters not what we make, but there is a magic in making with the company and support of others.

The studio calls…