Follow George Tibbles
The kid's are gone. Maybe you've just retired and you're rattling around the house, knowing you should be doing something, wanting to do something, but not quite sure exactly what it is. The spouse is out on the golf course, in the yoga studio, maybe just avoiding you because the to do list is getting a bit too long.
You start reflecting on your younger days when you lived with free abandon. You begin to remember the days of writing, the days of painting, the days of dance. In those days you never feared experimenting with something new and exciting. In those days you never questioned your dreams and ambitions.
Welcome to mid-life. Don't worry, you're probably not having a crisis. You're just feeling a need to express yourself now that things in your life have changed. And it's a good possibility that your need is your creative voice making itself known.
Mid-life is the perfect time to start a new creative outlet or rekindle what you put on the back burner while you were raising your kids, supporting your family and being a responsible adult. At this point in your life you can call it a hobby, a new career or something just different and fun. You can call it whatever you want because at this point in your life, you're doing everything for you.
Starting or rekindling your creativity at mid-life is an exciting and sometimes worrisome venture. You've mastered so many things by this point in your life that starting something new can generate a great deal of frustration. Go easy on yourself and remember that your creativity is as perfect as you are.
A few tips to get past the frustrations and move into a graceful flow of creative nourishment:
Be gentle with yourself. When you took that first job you had no idea what you were doing. It took time, patience and practice to get it right, to feel a sense of satisfaction.
Your creative life is no different. Learn or re-acquaint yourself with your creative world. Give yourself time to get back into the flow of doing this for you. Make the time to practice your art.
Make mistakes. Creativity is messy. It should be messy. Laugh at your mistakes. Learn from your mistakes. Turn them into something new and different.
Drop the guilt. You've spent a lifetime being an adult, allow yourself to be a child again. No one said we ever had to completely grow up. This is supposed to be fun.
Take a class. Even if you know what you're doing, you might be surprised and learn something new. Plus it gets you out and about among other creatives. Many that you'll find are mid-lifers, too.
Be yourself. Expression is the gift of creativity. Do what you want, how you want and don't feel you need to explain to anyone the reason. Your creativity is your inner child coming out to play. She's been napping for years and now is the time for adventure.
When you open up and accept mid-life and you do so with creative verve, you'll feel younger than you have in ages. Have fun. Get dirty. Sweat. Smile. Laugh. Mid-life can be the creative time of your life.
Peace on your journey - Kerri
Top image from Imgembed.
This is a cross-post from Ezine Articles.
Kerri Williams is a creativity coach, a fine art nature photographer and a writer on a lifelong creative journey. You can learn more about her photography and view her work at http://www.magpistudios.com.