New Years Eve Sparklers | 2019

The ground is shifting.

It’s quaking and rumbling beneath my feet. I can sense the place in which I am planted is about to change in this new year.

If I am being honest, it has created a lot of questions for me.

How will I manage in 2019 as these shifts take place?

Will I and what’s important to me, fall through the cracks?

Will I find that I am even more capable, or will I crumble?

Spinning these thoughts in my head over the past month has led me to the unique word: ‘Curate’.

Curate verb

• select, organize, and present (online content, merchandise, information, etc.), typically using professional or expert knowledge:

& although it’s often reserved to explain an art gallery or other aspects of gathering information/elements together, it has struck a chord within me. As I am adjusting to the ‘shifting’ and ‘growing’ in my / our lives, it is time for me to make careful and precise choices with where I place my energy and time.

PERSONALLY

Raising a ‘little’ into a child to equip her to handle the various aspects of life that will be thrown at her in less than 2 years (entering the public school system) means we need to be even more focused on bringing her the opportunities to grow, learn and mature in a new way. My time with her in this format of life is limited. Instilling values of kindness, empowerment, literacy, imagination, etc, before her world becomes more than just us, is increasingly heightened in importance.

As a family we are capable of more than we ever have been before. Leaving the baby/toddler stage has meant we are more able to connect and interact with our community, family and friends on a deeper level. It’s time to open up and pour out our energies in a new way.

PROFESSIONALLY

Continue to carefully align myself with the work atmosphere, collaborative teams and projects, knowing that what I commit to will get my full attention. Learning not to downplay myself & what I have to offer is a practice. I have learned so much in the past year about my craft, the industry I work in and where my boundaries are. Continuing to cultivate these interactions and various work projects while upholding my values is not a risk, it’s an integral part of who I am and how I choose to function within this world.

& as I close on this first day of the New Year,

by learning how to ‘curate’ in both my personal and professional life, I will be finding the proper footing to keep my feet actively on the ground while also gaining insight on how to adjust wherever 2019 puts me / us.

Happy New Year!

In all honesty, showing up to "The Creatives" is a rebellious act towards fear.  I see it on our faces as we gather around a table and silently admit to each other that our fear almost had us not here today, but something inside each of us said, 'showing up is worth more than what fear would have done to me tonight'.

That is what I aim to see cultivated with us even more this year.  It's a silent but 'actions-speak-louder-than-words' type of battle cry.  The battle cry of women.  Women who are creative.

Truly, that is all of us.  For those of us who show up, it is something we dare to embrace.

Hosting these events, I admittedly feel clumsy, awkward and an imposter.  It's the nature of the beast.  "Don't let them see my nervousness, because they might catch on I have no idea what I am doing." 

Thats the truth of it.  I don't know how to host the Creatives.  I rarely ever feel strong in this role.  But it's important.  It gives us life, and so I press on, and I believe and trust that what God puts in my heart to do, will have a place in this world.

And it does.  The joy we discussed this night was lovely to behold and the struggle to move past our fear was a beautiful part of us that needed us to be tender with it, to hold it gently and give it honour to the energy it takes to be fearless, even for just one minute of one day.

Out of anything for 2017, I sense those who attend The Creatives will deepen in their inidivudal awareness of their own creativity and in doing so we will discover another layer to The Creatives Collective that hasn't existed before.

Stepping into the territory that is ours one day at a time.