Monday, June 4, 2012

Creativity and Beyond

A year ago, June 1, I entered the hospital only to stay there for five plus months. That's a whole year that has gone by in the blink of an eye in hindsight. In real time it was a nightmare that never wanted to end. One of the hardest transitions and decisions for me last Spring was stepping aside from my job as I struggled with my medical crisis.

Last July was my seventh year working for Community Education as their graphic designer, and it was a rewarding job but also a very stressful job. Deadlines, calendars, working ahead months in advance, being 'creative' every day of your life, and working when feeling my absolute worst, between bleeding and collapsed lungs I still managed to get the job done. CE was kind enough at one point to lend me a laptop that I could work from home (and occasionally the hospital) if need be and I did my best to get in to work even when I could hardly drag myself out of bed. I think you will find most Cystics are that way, the disease that pummels can't keep you down and when it finally gets to the point of defeating it's staggering. The reality hits like a train bearing down - how can this be, how can I not function to get the job done, not possible!

It has been a crazy year but today as I am sitting at my desk from home, trying to clean up the remnants of my CE job, electronic file folders filled with design ideas, concepts, past and future projects I am overcome by the the joy that it brought me, yes even with all the stress and illness, within that was my creativity shinning through. I came  across the cover I had planned to use for Fall 2011, I already was working on last May 2011 and it is beautiful. So there, in the computer sits a creation that will forever be a digital beauty, never used, never seen but today it reminded me of 'what was' but, more importantly, 'what is' part of me.

Design and art, it's what I do, and if I may say - it's what I am good at! It doesn't matter if what I do is digital, or with paper and pen/pencil/paint it's in my blood and what keeps me going from day to day. The ability to create what emanates from the soul. It doesn't matter at the end of our time on earth whether we had the biggest house or car but rather did we enjoy the journey along the way and do things that made us happy inside and out.

Sometimes we forget our way and neglect that things are the most important and those things are different for each of us. Go find what that is, go live the things that make you happy, discover something new about yourself or rather rediscover. Life is fleeting, life is beautiful, and today is your chance to capture it.

I will leave you today with more of my 'aperture' beauties, thanks to my good friends beautiful back yard.






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