Creativity for survival

There cannot be just negative vibrations connected with these unprecedented times. We should all find a positive lesson in bad moments.

The lessons I’ve learned so far are really a lot, and I wish to talk about some of them in my next articles.

One of these is the art of survival. Darwin said “It is not the strongest of the species that survives,
not the most intelligent that survives.
It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” Well, we’ve got through a hell of a lot of changes during the past year. And more to come. Who are those who survived better? Those who decided to survive and to make the best out of this nonsense. Those who decided that, even if governments are deciding for us, we still can decide whether to live our lives or watching our lives just passing by.

I’ve decided to fight and be happy, no matter what happens every day. I’ve been through very hard times and still am. Financially, psychologically and under many other aspects of my life. But I’ve decided I will not be passive through events. In fact I’m reacting, looking for the best ways to get out of here with some dignity.

What I found is that creativity is helping me a lot. The right side of our brains is the one of creativity, imagination, art. It shuts my left side up, at least for the hour when I practice my beloved watercolors and depict plants and nature.

In these moments, time vanishes, together with anxiety, stress and bad thoughts. The world seems to brighten up . I am focusing exclusively on the paper, on the brush strokes, on color mixing. Every touch flows, building shapes, adding contrast, details, hues and tones to a blank sheet.

The strangest aspect of this creative wave, is that I had never taken art classes before, nor even tried to draw or paint. It’s been a call in a particular moment, the right thing at the right moment. If I try to analyze why and how it happened (left brain!), I can’t explain. Unprecedented behavior during unprecedented times! Therefore, I’m just letting this thing happen, feeling it deeply, indulging my hunger for creating lines and with lines shapes and with shapes composition.

At the end of each session I feel like I have added a brick to my personal wall of reconstruction, rebuilt my life, brick by brick, layer over layer, color in color.