Creating for a Woman's Soul

Photo by wakalani

I remember as a teenage girl wondering what it was that my mama loved so much about sewing and gardening. My mama started her love affair with sewing as a young girl making her own clothes, then our clothes, and now quilting and what was once a hobby is now a great talent. She started gardening as a young mother in Alaska and her vegetables and flowers won her numerous ribbons at the State Fair and even a spot on a local gardening TV show.

photo by chatiryworld

To me as a teenager these two hobbies that became talents meant one thing: a lot of work. It wasn't until I grew more comfortable in my womanhood and more mature that I recognized what sewing and gardening meant to my mama. For her those two things fulfill her inherit need as a woman to create. She is an artist and sewing and gardening are her mediums.

photo by suttonhoo

Over the last several months I've been thinking about this need to create. First I believe that this creative need is a characteristic given to all women by a loving Heavenly Father. For women of child-bearing age it might be called a maternal instinct or being "baby hungry" and it inspires us to create life and bring children into the world. But it does not stop there.

photo by angelrays

In fact it might even get stronger with marriage and children. "Nesting", home managing, and home making can all be propelled by this strong creative need. I think that it is also important for women to have at least one creative medium outside of their everyday home or work demands.

photo by voxphoto

This can be especially true for mothers of young children. Why? Because being a mother to young children can often feel thankless, mundane, and never-ending. The laundry will never be all done, there will always be more dirty dishes and car pooling, the feeding of small bodies is a never-ending task, and generally there is not a lot of recognition or gratitude to be found. Don't get me wrong, I do love my job as a stay-at-home-mom, but let's be real. It stinks sometimes.

photo by bookgrl

So what does that have to do with creating? Well, creating and growing little boys and girls is a long term, eternal kind of task, and sometimes women just need to be able to create something wonderful right now and get immediate satisfaction from the process and the finished project. My dear friend Amy calls these Immediate Satisfaction Projects, and my friends, they can save your life (or at least your sanity). There is something so fulfilling about creating something, it soothes the soul and calms the heart.

photo by wonderfully complex

My mediums for creating are digital scrap booking, photography and Photoshop Elements, this little blog, baking yummy food, and (gasp!) sewing. I'm not particularly amazing at any of these things, but they sure do fulfill my creative need and fill me up when I'm running on empty. I believe it is essential for women to have some kind of creative medium outside of their home and families because sometimes you just need to do a little something for yourself and what better way to do that then to create something and develope a talent? Creating and developing talents foster self confidence and self worth. What human couldn't use a little more of that?

photo by James Jordan

Of course, I for one, can be a little singleminded sometimes. I'm always working to keep a balance. It's surprisingly easy to put on a movie for my boys so I can write a post or make a layout. I've found that now that I've discovered this great outlet I have to reign myself in because I've got more ideas than I've got priorities for. So I take an hour at night after the boys are asleep and my husband has left for work(he works nights) and refuel with a little creating. It does a soul and body good.

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What are your creative mediums? How do you keep a balance? Talk to me, friends. I'm listening.