The Creative Side of Life

As a self proclaimed perfectionist I tend to stifle my creativity-- I have had and currently have many creative and artistic friends. They are always using things around them to create beauty and feed their creative being. I have several creative bones in my body. When I was little I LOVED to color-- as time went on I learned to use color in a pleasing way on paper. I would pick crayons that complimented each other. I would make up stories and then illustrate the pages. My mother would make me paper dolls and let me color in the clothes. The difference between me and my creative friends is that they are still being creative even now as adults! My perfectionism- aka: Mrs P-- tells me I'm too old to be creative or I don't have time-- the dishes need washing-- the bathroom needs cleaning etc. What is the fun in that?? I want to thank my creative friends and my mother for always inspiring me to look for the beauty in everything and to incorporate creativity and COLOR in my everyday life! So-- join me now and put away the computer- leave the dishes for another time- and get that crayon box out or those poster paints and spend even 15 minutes CREATING! Our Lord was the ultimate Creator and just look at our world!

Before and After

It occurred to me recently how much I LOVE the before and afters of life. It's so motivating to see how things were before and then the after-- sometimes after takes months even years-- like building a home or remodel-- or weightloss-- even pregnancy. However, sometimes the after is only minutes away! As a perfectionist I tend to postpone the "after" of things because I think the steps to get there are long. That's not always the case. Think of cooking or baking-- you start with a clear counter and stove-- then gather your ingredients and within minutes you have created something- hopefully the after is delicious! :) We would not have channels like The Food Network or TLC if it was run by perfectionists afraid to take those steps from before to after. It is so fun to watch a room go from ugly to beautiful or messy to totally organized. The key is doing it in steps- even baby steps.

I decided to use my camera to document the before and after of cleaning my kitchen. It took all of 30 minutes to do this transformation-- it would have taken 15 or less if I had kept up with things to begin with. It reminds me of a bumper sticker-- "Don't Postpone Joy". I tend to do that. Do you postpone joy?

The next time you are tempted to just let something go-- DON'T. Imagine the after and the joy you will feel when accomplishing it and get started!