A Creative Adult Is The Child Who Survived
Pastel Rainbow, circa 2010
I recently stumbled upon a palpable understanding of Ursula K. Le Guin's quote:
“The creative adult is the child who survived.”
The quote nods to the truth that there is still a child inside every one of us. The child inside who survived all the heart-aching conditioning, control, disruption and dysfunction, is the one who turns into the creative adult.
Sometimes it’s as though we are all like little children, running around in adult suits, pretending we know exactly how to be healthy full-functioning adults; yet we’re living in a deeply unwell society.
Most people feel dead inside.
One of the best remedies for that?
Being creative.
We must be creative with our one precious life. And honor that the very act of living can be creative, while following the cues of nature for guidance when we get stuck. Because nature is the ultimate creator; showing us how to create, destroy and create anew again. Creativity can be energizing and exhausting, just as life can be; but we are aching to live creatively like nature - as we move through our own springs, summers, autumns, and winters.
I’m curious, when you read the words ‘we must be creative’ - I wonder what pops up in your body?
I wonder if you are a bit like me.
You see, all my life I tried to fit into an invisible box.
A box with lines that were only spoken, never seen. It hurt to not fit inside.
The usual question asked in childhood is, “what do you want to be when you grow up?”
What if what I want to be is something that has never been before?
Sometimes I feel like my twenties were wasted, as I searched and carved through many different paths. I also know, no time, no experience, no success, and no failure is ever wasted. All that we experience, without a doubt, leads us to where we are meant to be.
Each path winds up being more connected than not, in some way linked by a hidden thread.
Sometimes life feels driven by an invisible force so powerful, our level of consciousness can't quite comprehend it, no matter how hard we try.
Yet, if we get quiet enough, if the world gets quiet enough, we might be able to hear the whispers of our true self. And with patience, acceptance, hard work, and surrender to the unknown, we will inevitably arrive at our truth, and one day, we will be her.
The pandemic we are in has been extraordinarily stressful for just about every one on the planet. That’s a lot of global stress.
It’s impacted me financially, mentally, and emotionally.
It's also become one of the greatest periods of my life.
It has provided an opportunity for me to wake up out of the day-to-day slumber I found myself in and has created space for me to see myself in ways I never have.
In some ways, it’s provided a wake up for the world. I read somewhere that the softer people can now speak louder.
Since the world came to a complete pause as we know it, I have been able to think more clearly. Life is much more simple when you stay home all the time.
I have epiphanies and my brain feels like a sky full of shooting stars.
Sometimes I whisper them under my breath, sometimes I speak them out loud.
I need to brand them into my brain so I can move forward with these truths and remind myself when I feel like giving up on the inner healing work.
It’s as simple as finally understanding my Self and coming to the realization of:
"What on earth have I been doing with my time?”
“Why did it take me so long to realize my power?”
“How did I succumb to deeply engrained beliefs and behaviors that held me back my whole life?”
“What do I really care about?”
“What actually matters now?”
Coloured pencil poppy, circa 2018
For my entire life up until this point, I was asleep to my own greatness.
To my own humble power that is so apparently present.
I’m experiencing a subtle awakening in my cells, finally beating to my own drum. The drum of my heart and soul that belongs outside of the box. The box that we are primed and painted inside, handcuffed to it's invisible but powerful existence.
From the time we are young, our souls are plastered like a papier-maché, slathered and moulded into what the world wants us to be.
We sit with the unconscious projections passed down from our parents, our grandparents, our teachers, and ever so well-meaning friends.
We also sit with the subconscious fear that’s been imprinted, so silently holding us back and keeping us in boxes…the invisible boxes of false life.
Most aren't even slightly aware of how the daily cycle of stress and fear that we’re hooked into, is designed to keep us small and quiet.
Most of us do not thrive staring at empty computer screens and glued to desks for next-to-nothing pay.
We do not thrive in mindless operations that make the world run as we know it.
We do not thrive being bombarded by fear-based news on repeat 24 hours a day.
Who are we working for? Who do we really want to be? Those are the pervading questions I am asking now.
We all carry a unique greatness inside. We all carry an innate genius inside.
The key is to listen for it, and then run with it for as long as you want.
Then change, grow, become another version of you, just like nature does. And realize that you too, like me, are a child who survived.
And we must keep creating when the world is dark, because it is all there is left to do.
If you desire to learn more about the work I now do to support the sensitive woman in a returning to her innate gifts, creativity, calling and artistry go here.
Pastel Heart, circa 2011
