Melissa Jeffcott

If you’re alive, you’re a creative person ~ Elizabeth Gilbert

There is a faded water stained picture I have in my possession that I drew in 1978 (and yes I feel old when I realise that was 37 years ago!) It is of a group of women at the hairdresser…and I love it.  I love the the smiles on their faces, the detail of the salon, including some spiffy wigs for sale…just looking at it transports me back to being 8 years old and the feeling of joy and quiet satisfaction I felt when engaged in doing something I loved.

Now, I am under no illusions about my talents for drawing, and my woeful colouring in in this picture confirms my distinct lack of skills in this area. However, I love this drawing because it was probably the last time I created a piece of art and felt it was good enough. You see in my family (for better or worse), my younger sister was known as the ‘arty’ one, and I was considered the ‘brainy’ one. This may have been purely because I wore chunky tortoiseshell rimmed glasses as a kid in the seventies (before hipsters made them cool may I add) but regardless, these labels stuck for us both. I started to value my worth around being good academically at school, and viewed creativity and art as something my sister was good at and I was hopeless at.

And guess what? These self imposed labels stuck for YEARS. I completely stopped drawing (even though I used to love it) because I felt I was no good at it.

The amazing Elizabeth Gilbert (my literary girl crush) spoke about this recently, and shared the following, “All children naturally love to draw, but as time goes by, the talented and the gifted are singled out for specialness, and the rest of us put down our pencils, watercolors, and crayons forever — thereby losing a vital and exciting part of our creative interior lives.”

In other words, most of us stop drawing at a very specific point in our lives: the moment we were told (or decided for ourselves) that we weren’t good at it.

This was certainly true for me, and I can honestly say that I never attempted to draw again until a couple of years ago, when on the other side of forty, I started tentatively looking for the creative being I knew lurked deep within me. On a whim, I decided to enter an art supplies store (all the while feeling like a complete fraud) and hastily bought a sketchbook and drawing pencils. I left feeling strangely exhilarated, and as I hesitantly put my pencil to paper for the first time in so many years, I felt time stand still and once again entered that magical state known as creative flow.

Now, I’d love to say that I immediately created some amazing art (it was pretty crap actually!) but I didn’t care, I felt a long stifled feeling of creative life-force reappear, much like when I started writing again, or when I dance without abandon around my living room. These are feelings we must treasure throughout our lives, and not abandon to our long ago youth.

For as Elizabeth Gilbert so eloquently says in her latest book ‘Big Magic’, “A creative life is an amplified life. It’s a bigger life, a happier life, an expanded life, and a hell of a lot more interesting life. Living in this manner-continually and stubbornly bringing forth the jewels that are hidden within you-is a fine art, in and of itself.”

I for one want to live my life like this, how about you?

I loved the book Big Magic so much, that I would love to GIVEAWAY a copy as it is truly a life changing read. Simply make sure you are subscribed to my newsletter (sign up in the green box above if you have not already), and comment below about your creative journey: Do you see yourself as creative? Did you give up being creative as a kid? How do you express yourself creatively? 

I will randomly choose a winner and announce on Facebook, Instagram, and my newsletter by Wednesday 18 November. GOOD LUCK!

“You should sit in nature for 20 minutes a day. Unless you are busy. Then you should sit for an hour.” old Zen saying

Ever since my children were little, we have been taking ourselves to a wonderful part of the world called Wilson’s Prom once a year. As soon as we drive over the cattle grid and into the national park, I feel my shoulders start to loosen and my mind start to wind down. I consider it a well needed chance to stop, pause and reflect on what has been, before marching headlong towards the inevitably busy remainder of the year.

Now if you know me personally, you will also know that I am not a ‘roughing it’ type of gal, so even though I have camped in the past and will probably (if I’m made to) do it again, it is not my ideal way of getting back to nature. At Wilsons Prom they have some great little cabins you can rent, so I can immerse myself in nature all day, and then retreat to a comfy bed (and a bottle of chilled Pinot Gris) at the end of the day #glampingforthewin

There are many reasons we keep coming back here year after year, and they can easily be applied to any beautiful natural setting that you spend time in. So without further ado, here are my top 4 reasons for getting back to nature with your loved ones:

• Connectedness. It is an ironic fact that in this day and age you have to disconnect to reconnect. Devices are not an option on this holiday (well except for the odd sneaky Instagram photo by moi) and this certainly makes a big difference to my families level of interactiveness. We play cards, we hike, we go on night walks, and the bonus of this is that you actually converse with each other, in that old school IRL F2F way. #foreal

• Mindfulness. A holiday in nature means slowing down and noticing what it is that you are doing. Whether it was sharing a drink with my husband at the end of the day while the kids played outside, or colouring in mandalas with my daughters (even my husband and teenage son joined in for half an hour: I consider that a win for the ages!) We were in the moment, living and appreciating the here and now, which is what life is all about really.

• Pushing yourself physically. I push myself out of my comfort zone in a lot of ways on the other side of forty, but not so much in a physical sense. Spending days hiking up mountains (well, small ones anyway) and following my mad rock hopping husband and son around, not only made me hope we had good ambulance cover, but also made me challenge and surprise myself with what I could do. I know my less physical middle child felt the same way. A feeling of pride in achieving what you thought you couldn’t do: a great lesson, whether you are young or old.

• Appreciation. Noticing the small details around you and really appreciating them, is something we don’t often do in our busy day to day lives. Yet when you spend some time in nature, you notice the most wondrous things. We listened to the screeching sounds of a flock of cockatoos as they danced around the sky, saw  tiny blue fairy wrens hopping from branch to branch, and even a few lumbering wombats wandering around impervious to our delight. Truly wonderful memories to keep forever.

As I sat high atop the large rocky outcrop in this photo looking over at my husband and children in this beautiful setting, I gave thanks for the abundance and the wonder of our natural world. I was able to pause and feel true gratitude and deep love for my family. Yes, getting back to nature is so much more than it seems.*

*Now I am not naive, some of these feelings tend to dissipate upon our return to civilisation (the three hour car trip with 3 tired cranky children will do that, not to mention the mountainous loads of washing that need to be tackled). But I wouldn’t swap my annual week getting back to nature for the glitziest of 5 star resorts (and trust me I like those too!)