Have you ever thought about the “expressing yourself” story in your life or where you are in that story at the moment?

I know it is a mouthful to get your head around hey!

Take a minute though if you can to let the idea settle.

Take a minute to let your history start to flow in your mind.

You may find you start remembering things long forgotten.

You may find yourself remembering links you didn’t know were there.

These could all be based around this thing I call your “expressing yourself” story. Taking time could help clarify your today.

My story is staggered for sure.

There are projects that I remember distinctly growing up.

I remember being so absorbed in a picture – a piece of writing – a creative mess about. There are equally large chunks of time of being lost, following other people’s interest, feeling foggy about my likes, my dislikes.

Where I am today and the commitment I have made to making pictures comes from an equally winding path. Moving away from my friends and my hometown, to a new country, pushed me to listen more to what I liked and what was exciting me. I no longer had the same crutches that distracted me from bothering to find out before. Before it hadn’t been a necessity, but being pushed out of my comfort zone sparked new ideas with a new sense of a colour and creative need.

Next came children and the isolation of being a stay at home mum created something greater than a need – it created a desperation in me to have something for myself. My creative dabbles from before of stitching and printing fabric morphed into a direct expression of the mixed up feelings that were happening inside me. It was utter discomfort that forced me to dig deeper to what I wanted and needed to do and say.

See the path isn’t always clear – nor is it always pretty – but it is interesting.

It will always reflect where you are in your life and where you are in your “expressing yourself” story.

To express oneself does not have to be through the act of making art.

It can take many forms – but the feeling that comes from doing whatever it is you do to express yourself will feel similar.

To express ourselves in some form is a way to feel heard, to feel seen in the world. It is also, arguably more importantly, a way to hear and see ourselves. It is my expression of things around me, that helps me understand more why I am feeling the way I am and why I might be doing a certain thing. It makes me feel that bit closer to understanding myself.

It is through this clearing of the fog around me that I can make better decisions – decisions that feel right for me. It gives me a sense of separateness from the noise around, to honestly hear what is going on so I don’t get swept away and lost by the thoughts of others.

To express oneself through any medium is ultimately fun.

Not all the time – sometimes stuff goes wrong, but we come back to our chosen way because first and foremost it makes us smile. It has to – else why begin?

Why pursue it?

It has to have this fun and exciting element.

It will be the thing that makes you tingle and thrill when it comes together in whatever way that is to you. It will be the thing that makes you feel ultimately at home with yourself. Doing this act feels like the truest reflection of who you are if you were to try and show yourself asethically. If there were no words – it would be this. It is this you could point and people would go ahhhh yeah I see that.

Then there is the flip coin. The feelings when we are not expressing ourselves in this harmonious form. Are we doing a thing that we felt we should do not want to do. OR are we not doing any expression at all? That is when we see the other side of ourselves that we want to hide from. The critical, the moody, the sad, the spoiler. That is when we see a true part of ourselves that is the opposite of our joy.

There are times in our lives when the expression is hard to do. Maybe the practicalities of what you need aren’t easily available or the time is limited, but we can avoid the falling apart if we recognize what it is we need and introduce it to ours lives in it’s more reduced form. If we see these small acts as seed planting or mind composting – if we are reading around the subject, thinking about it – doing a little – just a little, then we can save the negative mood swamp.

But the explosion will come when it is it time to get back. It will come with a force that might scare us. It will come as a very primal roar of I NEED TO DO THIS. No matter how insignificant the THIS may seem to the outside world – it is far from insignificant to your life, to your world, to your joy. This roar is there to protect and remind you that it is the right time for you to get back to it – to get back to that expression – to get back to you.

Why?

Simply put it is a human need to express ourselves.

To feel seen, to feel heard and to feel connected and understood in just a small way.

That is what living is about.

So I ask you - what is your story of expressing yourself and where are you in that story today?

All my love in this wonderful, manic, creative trip we are on.