Ok – give me some creative license to claim February as the month I guide you to fall back in love with your creativity and watch the changes and magic happen out of left field.
Let me count the ways you can spark the romantic in you from creative renewal.
Promise you will play with me?
Alright. Let’s do some storytelling. How many stories have you heard where someone reconnected with their abandoned artist after years only to find it enhanced ALL parts of their life; not just their creativity?
The woman who stopped ballet dance at a young age due to fear of not measuring up. Twenty-five years later, inspired by a craving for change, was urged by her close friends to sign up for a ballet adult class to just “feel” the movement and reconnect with her artistry. Hesitant she would not stick with it – she courageously signed up only to find she not only felt like a new woman – but her neglected artist within was re-lit with a joy she had not felt in decades.
She risked delight.
The beauty of her renewal – she began repairing her relationships personally and professionally. Her marketing company began to shift and her revenues increased. She redecorated her cozy home in a different color palette and bought flowers each week to add beauty to her dining room. She and her husband re-lit their romance after years of decline.
The list goes on. Did she become a professional dancer? Of course not. But renewing her creativity allowed her to repair the parts of her life that were dimmed by life’s challenges and disappointments.
It allowed her to think differently in how she approached problem solving. It allowed her to feel reconnected to her heart where ideas, inspiration and a zest for life reside.
Similarly, in the movie, “Shall We Dance” starring Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon and Jennifer Lopez, Gere’s lead character transformed his stale “ground hog” day life as a successful attorney and loyal father and husband to a happy, renewed, spirited inner and outer life by taking ballroom dance lessons.
He risked delight and fed his curiosity.
My creative renewal happened as a result of traveling and living in Florence, Italy for a month last summer. I took the calling seriously. I listened to my intuition and took action. I lovingly reconnected to my artist the writer and lover of visual and performing arts. My heart re-opened. I felt alive and lit up for the first time in over seven years. I fell back in love with life, humanity and curiosity.
I risked delight.
Does this mean you need to take up dance lessons or travel? No, but you can. I especially encourage you to travel for an extended period of time; not just two weeks and often. I am encouraging you to find that creative juice you may have left behind for numerous reasons or maybe you have not found yet.
Write. Dance. Play. Color. Travel. Sing. Design. Garden. Paint. Do something creative that takes you out of your daily routine and messes with your comfort zone.
Let it disrupt your way of thinking.
Then begin to watch the magic unfold in the coming weeks. Before you know it – you have a new lease on life and recharged business.
Living more romantically means you feel more alive and in touch with inspiration, play, color, and fun.
Will you share with me what came up for you that would be your own way of “risking delight”?