We are the creative resistance
Together, we can change the world, before it's too late
A lot has happened since I first started writing on this platform. My life has changed significantly, and I have changed as a person. I think writing here has had something to do with that. Being able to write freely (rather than on topics commissioned by editors) and pushing myself to regularly explore my thoughts and what I care about has, as it often does, led me to a deeper understanding of who I am and who I want to be.
It has helped me to clarify what I feel truly called to do. What my soul yearns for.
Part of my passion is helping people to find their voice and speak their truth, so it seems only right that I lean into my truth.
Creativity will save us all
The world is on fire.
It’s entirely possible that humanity won’t survive if we carry on in this way - polluting the planet, murdering one another, over-consuming natural resources, draining the life force from ourselves… and we may take a fair number of other species with us. The Earth will probably survive us and repair itself when we’re gone, but urgent action is required if we want to hang around much longer.
I believe that the major issue we’re facing is a lack of connection. We have become disconnected from our planet, our environment, one another, and even from our true selves. I believe that our only hope lies in reconnecting - learning to love, honour and appreciate our fellow humans, the other-than-humans we share this world with, and the Earth itself, as well as to honour, nurture and express our full selves.
Creativity has a key role to play in this.
Connection with self
Creative activities bring us back into our bodies, allowing us to literally and metaphorically feel into ourselves. They give us a way to process, interpret and express our thoughts and emotions.
Connection with others
Stories and art help us to understand other people. They allow us to see the world through other people’s eyes, to lean into different perspectives and experiences. They foster empathy and compassion. They inspire support.
Making things for other people, and buying or being gifted things that have been made by others, also strengthens relationships, builds community and increases our appreciation for vital materials and resources.
Connection with the planet
Creativity can also help us connect to the natural world. Using natural materials, looking to nature for inspiration, and spending time in nature to support a creative mindset help artists to deepen their relationship with the planet.
The writing, art and items we create can also encourage others to have greater appreciation and respect for nature. Our ancestors knew the importance of stories - the number of deities, supernatural beings and folk characters associated with nature demonstrate the value of encouraging respect and seeding meaning in the different elements of the world around us.
Human beings are innately creative. We have been making art and telling stories since we arrived on this planet. It is a powerful drive within us, and something that vastly improves our mental and physical health. But so many of us have been convinced that we are not “good” enough at it, or that it is not a worthwhile endeavour. Because the system wants that innate creativity suppressed. Creativity is dangerous to an unjust system.
Creativity is resistance
Stories and art are how we drive change forward.
By sharing different perspectives, we help to change minds. We influence kinder, more positive behaviour.
By showing what’s possible, we help others to imagine better systems, which encourages them to demand better of our leaders.
By asking questions, we chip away at the dominance of the status quo, and open the door for change.
Our capitalist, patriarchal, colonialist society does everything it can to devalue creativity - for precisely these reasons. The last thing they want is people imagining something better, questioning their power. They don’t want us creating for ourselves, or feeling empowered within ourselves - they want us passively consuming, feeling anxious and empty so that they can convince us that further passive consumption and slavish contribution to the system is the way to satisfy the ache we feel inside.
They don’t want you speaking out about your experiences, about injustices, because then others might say, “me too”, and we might all get it into our heads to do something about it.
Finding your voice, connecting with your truth, listening to others and creating something for yourself are powerful acts of resistance.
Creativity is also deeply healing and nurturing - in a world that wants you broken so that it can sell you a fake solution, meaningful self-care is revolutionary.
You don’t need an audience of millions to change the world - every act of creativity is a contribution towards a better world. Together, we are weaving a new reality, and each stitch, however small, is valuable.
I am particularly passionate about helping those who have been silenced and marginalised by our society to find their voices. For me, as an AuDHD, partially deaf woman, I feel I can be of most service to neurodivergent and disabled people. This is who I primarily set out to help with my Divergent Creatives course.
But I want everyone to feel able to reclaim their inner creativity, and use it to nurture their wellbeing and connect to the wider world.
Get your Creative Fix
I am rebranding this space to make that message clearer, and to align the different elements of my work. Being pushed out of the business I have been focusing on for the past five years feels like a shove from the universe to focus on what seems to most call to my soul - this drive to support creativity. So I’m bringing out of the shadows the project that’s been a side hustle and a vague dream for some time…
With huge thanks to Eva Lydon 🌺 for my gorgeous new branding!
At Creative Fix (the business) I provide courses, coaching and writing services, and I hope to support people to bring their creative dreams to life - however big or small. It makes sense, then, that this platform should connect with that mission.
I want this space to offer you:
Space and permission to embrace creativity
Inspiration and support to fuel your creative practice
Guidance and resources to help you build a creative practice that suits you
Encouragement to share your voice and be part of the creative resistance
I’m using the cycles of the moon as a guide, partly because I find comfort and inspiration in lunar energy, and it makes sense to use this connection to nature as one way to build that relationship, but also because the moon reminds us to rest. Using the natural waxing and waning as a cue reminds us to take the rest we need and turn inwards at times, instead of trying always to be doing and moving forward.
So the publishing schedule will look a little like this:
New moon (period of pause and reflection): Round-up of recent posts and activity
Waxing moon (period of action): Masterclasses, inspiration, creative practice support
Full moon (peaks of activity and time to take stock): Art activism
Waning moon (period of introspection and rest): Creativity as self-care, reflection prompts
I’m also planning to explore how we can use storytelling for collective action, and encourage creative connection with the natural world.
I hope that you’ll join me on this journey.
But, most of all, I hope that you’ll protect and nurture your creativity. It may be more important - to you, and to all of us - than you realise.