All of us have the need to be creative – that little urge inside us to make something new, design a fresh idea, imagine a novel concept. We have to do it. We have to develop our senses, our clever ideas.

It’s born in all of us – creativity. It’s in there waiting to get out and express itself. It may choose cooking, painting, building, sewing, designing, teaching or a thousand other variations of expression. You will know when you fall in love with whatever you fall in love with.

That love will direct your life, because a creative life is a very wide-fulfilled life. Maybe you have to experiment with numerous activities and areas to find your creative outlet. And that’s okay. There are no rules about this. Actually, that’s the fun part!

I myself love to sew and quilt. I am happiest in my sewing room and so I’m there almost everyday, doing what I love the most – being creative with fabric and thread. The fulfillment I feel for the finished products can sometimes be overwhelming. And the designing and quilting is such a joyous journey that I often lose touch with space and time. I am literally transported to another world while I’m in my creative zone.

I have a friend who played soccer when she was young. She enjoyed it tremendously and played very well at a tournament level. As she grew older, regular life got in the way and she stopped playing. During middle age, she realized her life wasn’t the best it could be and she wanted to improve it. She started to think back to when she was the happiest and she realized it was during those years of soccer playing.

She decided to add soccer back into life by joining an older adult team. She doesn’t play that well anymore but enjoys it even more now. She hasn’t changed anything else about her life but has become so much more joyful by opening up her creative self again.

The inspired part of living is essential to our balanced existence, yet is is sometimes so difficult to express. Why is that? What are we hiding? What are we running from? What are we afraid of?

Oh boy, there’s the word – afraid! We have fear! We have fear of so many things, of everything, really. All those thing that stand in the way of our expressing ourselves in our unique distinct ways.

We know them. The list is enormous. We can think of a million reasons not to try, not to step out, not to attempt. It’s easy to let fear stop us in our tracks.

And you know what?! There’s no way to stop fear! It will always be there! Yup!

Sorry, but that’s the truth. The good news is, you can do anything even while you are afraid. That’s called being brave, my sweeties.

That’s the hard part of being creative. You have a great idea. You’re excited and fear always comes in and says it won’t work for one reason or another. But now you know that you don’t have to listen to fear. You step out in faith, no matter how scared you are. You make the commitment. You try.

And, you ask, what if the idea doesn’t work? Well, what if it doesn’t? What have you learned? First of all, you learned one way that didn’t work. Second, you learned you can survive and try again. You are strong and brave, remember?

But what if it does work? Oh boy, now we’re talking! Nothing in the world feels better, believe me. Carry on. Keep going. Do the work.

The creative life is certainly not boring. It is exciting, productive, bright, active, fulfilling and scary. And it makes the next step in fear that much easier. You did it once, you can do it again. Every advance makes you stronger and stronger. And your baby steps get bigger and bigger.

How exciting a life is that! The creative life is never satisfied with past performance. It is always seeking new horizons to conquer, new mountains to climb, new fears to face.

Creativity has no end. It is always searching, always on the lookout for the exciting, different way to be expressed.

Creativity is never content. It is never complacent. Its needs are always unmet.

A creative life requires constant observance of the world outside and within. It can be a bit tiring but is never dull. It is a very enriched rewarding life, filled with color, drama, challenges, satisfaction, growth and much success.

Try it. I think you’ll like it.