How WordPress Saved my Life

Okay, so the title may have been a LITTLE bit of an overstatement… but read on to see what I’m talking about.

I was nominated for the Kreativ Blogger Award yesterday and it really made me smile. I was nominated for a similar thing,  the Versatile Blogger Award, a while back and I found it to be a fun way for bloggers to connect, find new interesting blogs, and write a little about  themselves. This one made me especially happy because it was all about being creative and it told me that someone else out there (who I didn’t already know) thought I was creative too. I liked that.

I’ve loved creative projects since I was a kid and grew up thinking of myself as a creative person. There have been times in my life where I completely lost touch with that side of myself and didn’t spend time doing the creative things I used to enjoy. There was a period (after high school when I took a little time off before college) when I was pretty down. I wasn’t in school, was working full-time and felt like I didn’t have much drive or purpose in my daily life. That sounds dramatic, but I was going to work every day for 8 hours, coming home, eating dinner, watching TV, going to sleep and doing it all over again. Life was boring and I felt lost (and I was only 19!).

Around that time my mom and I had a talk about how I was feeling. Her advice to me was to do something creative. She said I should find a project that interested me and do it. She thought it might help me get excited about something and in turn, improve whatever negative feelings I was having. I remember it specifically because I started a sort of strange project after that… I started making wood purses. Yep, you read that right. Wood purses… totally practical, right? I bought them at Michael’s (they were more like wooden boxes, but I wanted them to be purses) and I decoupaged them with photos of pin up women from the 50’s. I know this sounds way weird in writing, but they actually looked pretty cool hanging in my teenage room at the time. I got so into these purses and had so much fun  that I made at least 10 of them and was even thinking about selling them for a while. That never worked out… I wonder why not? Who wouldn’t want to buy a purse made of hard wood?

Anyway, the point is I lost touch with my creative side and when I started doing these projects again my life improved. Friends have made fun of me during some of the different creative phases I’ve gone through (scrapbooking for instance – I took a lot of flack for that in college!) but it has always made me happy. Now I have my blog and I couldn’t love it more. Of course I have good days and bad days. Some days I have nothing to post about and some days I could post 10 times if I wouldn’t end up looking like a crazy person. Blogging has made me creative all over again. It is a reminder that I need to continue being an “artist” and I need to keep creating to keep my readers interested. But really, it helps me immensely just to get the posts down on “paper” regardless of whether or not people read them (although I can’t lie…watching my stats go up doesn’t hurt!).

I can honestly say WordPress and the blogging community has made me a happier person. It keeps me thinking about the next creative topic I can blog about, whether it’s a new recipe, my photography, my latest DIY project, makeup artistry, whatever. And I am constantly inspired by the other amazing blogs out there.

So, I want to thank conchsaladesque for recognizing my creativity.

There are seven rules to accepting the Kreativ Blogger award –

1. You must thank the person who has given you the award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link the person who has nominated you for the award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate 7 other Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs to let them know they have been nominated.

7 things about myself people may (or may not) find interesting-

• I can wiggle my ears. My grandpa taught me when I was a little one and it’s one of my favorite memories with him.
• I was born in Denver but I haven’t been back since I was three.
• I LOVE tomatoes. I grew up hating them with a passion and now I put them on everything and would eat fresh tomatoes from the garden all day long if I could.
• I HATE mustard. I don’t believe that will ever change. I’ve tried and tried and I just cannot make myself like it.
• Sushi is my favorite food on the planet. I’d eat it everyday if I wouldn’t die from Mercury poisoning (and could afford it).
• I hate listening to people chew their food. I know this is silly but it can actually change my mood if I am in a situation where I have to listen to another person’s weird mouth sounds as they consume their meal. gross.
• I used to love butter as a kid. Like…eat it straight on crackers (or without crackers) kind of love. I vaguely remember sneaking it out of the fridge when I was around 5 years old. It makes me cringe thinking about it now.

7 Kreativ Bloggers – All creative in their own ways.

1. Just a Little Brit
2. Linda Townsdin – A Writers Journey 
3. Macro Life Photography 
4. Sugar & Cloth
5. Once Upon a Recipe
6. Darla Cooks
7. Katie Runs This

How are you creative? Does blogging help fuel your creativity?