Today I'd like to introduce you to Lauren, a teacher and blogger in Melbourne, Australia. When we began our coaching sessions, Lauren expressed her years-long interest in starting a blog, but she hadn't yet taken the plunge.
Through our work together, we explored the place creativity has in her life and how she could bring more of it into her self-expression. She's since begun a brilliant, thoughtful blog that interweaves topics like language, culture, identity, art, and social justice.
Q: What are some of your most enjoyable creative outlets?
A: I love language--both speaking and writing. Writing for my blog is my favourite creative outlet at the moment, but I have recently rather joyously discovered a previously unknown knack for haiku and short form poetry--both writing it myself and reading the work of others. I also adore collecting beautiful imagery, in digital and hard copy form. Very occasionally, I do collage, but I think it's the curation of images that I enjoy the most. I tried hand-lettering early in the year because i love colour and markers and fonts, but i was terrible at it! Never say never, though. I may come back to it.
Q: Where do you find creative joy in your everyday life?
A: I find creative joy in noticing the unusual or interesting in the mundane ... tuning into the world around me and picking up small details that I might have overlooked. Most of the time, I go about my routine like everyone else--in a hurry, keen to get on to the next thing. But in those moments where i slow down, I am often rewarded by what I find.
Q: How did creativity coaching sessions affect your relationship to your creativity?
A: My sessions with you gave me the external push I needed to act upon creative projects that I had been thinking about for years. Your coaching allowed me to see that I had everything I needed to DO something. And I did it.
Q: What nurtures your creativity, and what shuts it down?
A: Another truth bomb for you--people enjoying my work is what really nurtures my creativity. I enjoy writing, but I really love the idea of other people benefitting from my work in some way. It's egotistical, maybe, but also not. I'm a teacher, I'm all about sharing knowledge in entertaining and relatable ways. As for what shuts my creativity down--thinking I am not good enough at a particular skill to attempt it. See hand-lettering, above. I am, at heart, a perfectionist :-)
Q: What kind of person do you think might benefit from creativity coaching?
A: I think creativity coaching would benefit people like me--people open to the idea of creativity as a thing that can be cultivated/nurtured, and who feel that their life lacks creative experiences/opportunities/expression, or that they aren't fulfilling their creative capabilities. (This was me!)
Q: If you were making a creatively-inspired playlist, what songs might be on it?
A: Digable Planets, Beck, jazz, indie hip hop, (right now i am loving this Canadian kid named Powfu), interesting cover songs, Afrobeat, old skool reggae/ska, Vampire Weekend, samba, DJ Shadow, Anderson Paak, and whatever mainstream-ish track is playing on the tapeloop of my brain at the moment (Whats Poppin' by Jack Harlow).
Check out Lauren's blog to immerse yourself in the beauty and intelligence of her perspective.
And if you're interested in getting more creative work done, why not come to a Co-Creation Time session? Held twice a week, these sessions are held over video call give you the chance to work on your creative project while in the company of other people working on theirs. With warm, friendly participants from all over the world, we get lots done and have fun while we're at it.
Learn more about Co-Creation Time sessions (including how to sign up) over here.
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Sign up now to join us! Can't wait to see you there.