Perks on Earth

Firstly, hello and welcome back to Perks on Earth! I know it’s been a hot minute since I have last posted, but my only excuse is that I’ve been busy adulting (or attempting to do so!). I am now writing this as an employed woman, one with her own little Sydney home! Well, rented, but it’s a start. The last month has been filled with getting used to the routine of life again, breaking my recent cycle of waking up in a different bed every morning and exploring a different city each week. Now, Sydney is slowly becoming my home away from home, and I am taking each and every opportunity to explore all of this amazing cities gems and forge a sense of belonging here. So far- it’s going great! But enough about me, I’ll fill you all in on that another time. Today, I decided I wanted to write to create. And that draw to writing has given me todays focal point, the importance of creativity. I hope you take something form this, or even just think about the idea that creativity has an essential role in nearly all our lives.

What does creativity mean for you? For me, it always starts with a daydream. In any abundance of variety, I gaze at the sky and dream of a story, an image, and act. These daydreams become inspiration for all and any creative outlet. Whether I am painting, molding, sculpting, or sat here and writing, it all started with a daydream. An unconscious wandering of my mind is what I believe has built my creative spirit. My creativity is one of my most treasured aspects of myself, and by exercising this creativity, I find a solace. In nurturing this creativity, I find myself grounded. There is a common misconception that creativity is talent, but I disagree entirely. Creativity is in us all, and all it takes is an open mind. Creativity can be anything. It can be art, it can be writing, it can be taking photos, exercising, working as part of a team, cooking, baking, organizing your wardrobe (which I’m not great at), and it can be a daydream. The importance of creativity is perseverance without self judgment. If you enjoy taking photos but you don’t feel your photos compare to what you perceive as a ‘good photo’, keep taking those photos. If nothing else, that is your own creative exercise, your own personal way to practice and enjoy the beautiful elements of your being that make us create. I have just joined a ceramics studio. My work so far has been wonky, uneven, and probably useless in their purpose. But I leave the studio after each session alive with creative energies coursing in my veins. Creativity is beautiful and unique and entirely yours, you can do whatever you want with it.

This Blog was borne of many things, but mainly out of a desire to exercise my creativity. Each one of my blogs so far, from my Love Letter to Laos to my Settling in Sydney, started as a daydream. I almost entirely create these words in my mind, and then I exercise this creativity by converting them to paper (or most of the time, into my notes whilst on the bus, but same same!). Above all else, creating is fun! It makes me me, and allows me to channel all my concentration onto something I love; a blog no one might read, a mug no one may drink from, a poem forever unread, or a painting unseen by anyone but me. This does not undermine my creative work, for it is the exercising of this creativity that makes me feel, in every way, happy.

For an example of creativity, que my handsome boyfriend, Dara. Though he may not necessarily regard himself as such, he is an endlessly creative soul, as we all are as humans. He creates in many ways, but he showcases this to me in his joy at taking photos and videos. Through Dara exercising his creative spirit, converting his daydreams into a film he can sit down and show his loved ones, I can see his happiness. Just like that, I’ve seen his daydreams, and I have to say they are pretty beautiful. Another idea for a blog, Dara’s content… I’ll spend the next week working on it!

My creative spirit is on a ramble, but I intend to allow it to run. What started out as a reflective blog is turning into some kind of creative-exercising-guru-advice. But take it or leave it, creating is what grounds me. Like the ocean and the country breeze, sitting at this desk and typing away for you all to read, the same solace comes over me. I hope maybe others can find the same.