Facing Consequences
In my last ramble, I mentioned that I love teaching small classes. If i am being perfectly honest, part of that love was because I couldn’t quite work out how to fit more than 4 people in my studio. Well, a paint job(including a detested ceiling, in the heat of Summer just before Christmas when I should have been doing much more Christmassy things!) and a bit of a sort (family code for massive overhaul) means that 8 people can now comfortably and happily create in my little room! And still have lots of creative flexibility and get buckets of one-on-one that I love to be able to give.
Creating teaching space meant embracing the limitations of the room and realising I could not KEEP ALL THE STUFF! Once this simple fact was embraced, decisions could be made about what stuff could be released and spaciousness was achieved.
It was all about facing consequences. The consequence of trying to keep all the things in case I used them one day was that I could only fit one table in for teaching. It came down to what gave me most joy…but not in a Marie Kondo way!
I realised just how much I love teaching and how important it was to me to try to make it a bit easier for people to get creativity and connection into their lives. This was more important than keeping something just in case. It was a bit of a metaphor!
Oliver Burkeman reminded me (not personally obviously but via his book) that the only way to live authentically is to acknowledge that you’re inevitably making decision after decision and that those decisions should take into account the fact that you are a finite human being. He reminded me to live a limit-embracing life!
This sounds so commonsense and so basic but I have spent years trying to have a red hot go at doing it all. And being frustrated when I inevitably couldn’t.
Ironically, I actually like limitations when I am creating. Limit my materials or give me something to make jewellery to match and I’m in heaven. Suddenly the range of choices is reduced, I make some decisions and off I go. How slow am I to embrace this in real life?
It takes creativity to live a life that embraces restrictions and limitations. And they are really what make our lives unique.
My word of the year is RELEASE and this was very appropriate as I released attachment to some things and even to beliefs about how the next few years might look and did the needful. In a way, decisions became more simple.
I haven’t done a separate rave about the Women Empowering Women trip last year but it was an absolute cracker and I have posted a few photos to give you the vibe of the thing.
If you’ve ever thought One day I’d like to do one of those Nepal trips with Wendy why not make 2025 the year that thoughts become deeds. Obviously, I hope to be doing these trips for as long as I can but look…we all know life can throw us curve balls and things change so if you can do it this year, do! Go here for information details about how to book. Mwah. Thanks for being here.