Yes, I’m a fan of Lewis Carol’s Alice in Wonderland books, which includes the poem about the Jabberwock, a fearsome creature. However, a young fighter goes out and kills this creature with a sword, and brings back the head to his father.
This was one of the more enjoyable, goofy, nonsensical projects I did. The creativity used here was good medicine for me!
A couple of blog posts of mine thus far have been videos of spoken word, of poetry. Now, mind you, I’m not a poetically minded guy. I can’t write poetry to save my life, and I really wouldn’t want to if I could. But while pursuing my English degree I was exposed to enough variety of poetry that I learned to appreciate the scope and depth of emotion that poetry can tap into.
When I first went through my divorce, I experienced such a depth of despair and depression, that I hardly enjoyed anything. There was nothing that could reach inside and help me navigate and make sense of these overwhelming feelings. Until a friend of mine suggested I get creative.
I came to understand from several sources that there is a significant healing quality found in the act of creating something. When depressed, when divorced, creativity must be seen as a life preserver. It was for me, anyway.
I had purchased a MacBook Pro, primarily to help with my editing, writing, and voiceover business. Also, though, as I began to explore the various applications available to me for movie-making and music-creating, I discovered an amazing avenue of healing!
I began experimenting with dramatic poetry reading, making commercials for various groups, and sending goofy video postcards to friends. As a seminary student, I even experimented with putting some of my teaching on video.
I would spend hours on this stuff, tweaking, revamping, laughing, crying, and sharing with friends. Although I eventually began taking antidepressants, one significant alternative drug that impacted my life for good was the drug called “creativity.” I found myself coming out of my shell a bit. I was able to produce things that were cathartic and beneficial, and other things that were just plain dorky. No matter.
Something inside my brain, no matter how temporary, would stop focusing on my despair and instead would focus on producing something that was fun, funny, meaningful, or just plain random. The pain that I was feeling was much like a HUGE bruise on my soul. And, like bruises we get on our skin, bruises hurt like crazy if you keep touching them. When we are hurting so deeply while going through trauma (like divorce, death, etc), we frequently focus on our hurts, our wounds, our pain. We keep pushing the bruise because we think about it all the time. However, when we divert our attention to something creative, we stop, even if it’s just for a moment, pushing on the bruise. Instead, we focus on something beautiful, something meaningful.
Some ideas –
*Write a book
*Write a blog
*Keep a journal
*Take an art class
*Take up swing dancing
*Try something artistic and physical, like Poi
*Buy a camera and try photography
*Learn an instrument
*Get out in nature – learn astronomy or bird-watching
*Try ice sculpting
*Learn to cook, especially the manly art of grilling
*Learn how to do woodworking
*Take a geocaching course
*etc etc etc
So, your turn.
******What kind of creative things are you even remotely interested in? And, what’s your plan to implement at least ONE of those creative outlets? Let me know!******
The Divorce Squad 