Each week in The Wisdom of Change blog series, I share the original artwork and unpack the insights and meaning behind one of the 44 cards in The Wisdom of Change oracle deck.
This week’s card is 21 Create
The wisdom in this card arrived with me when I was ‘stuck in my head’. When we forget to trust the flow of change, we fall back into believing that it is our job to work out the ‘how’. We spend endless hours and sleepless nights, overanalysing and second guessing in an attempt to find ‘logical’ solutions. Wisdom led change simply doesn’t happen this way.
For years I believed that in order to grow my business, I would need to use somebody else’s tried and tested formula. The problem then becomes finding the right guru to help you. I’ve invested in enough business and marketing experts to know that ultimately, we find our own way. We end up blending a range of approaches that we have learnt into a formula that is unique to us. We create our own way through intuition, trial and error. It’s a way of doing business that is inherently us. It is not fixed and it evolves over time. This should have been my first clue as to the power of creativity.
A significant shift happened for me when I stumbled across the idea that entrepreneurship is a creative journey. In fact, if we let creative energy guide us in all areas of life, we would be a great deal better off. My realisation felt so light and exciting. It held that intuitive sense of ‘rightness’ that I’m always looking out for. Of course! I thought; dreaming up programmes, creating marketing content, designing websites and writing books are all deeply creative processes. There is no right or wrong way to shape and share your creative expression. There is no inherent creativity in trying to follow someone else’s formula verbatim (then making yourself wrong or incompetent when you don’t or can’t sustain their approach in your business). After all, your ideal client seeks a unique slice of what makes you/your business different. They can get a homogenous offering anywhere.
When I reflect on the most transformative coaching I’ve invested in, it’s always been with practitioners who have let their freak flag fly and been guided to create content that is unique to them. They’ve invariably had to push through a life changing amount of their own learning and resistance in order to bring their offering to market. To these courageous trailblazers, I am forever grateful. Their bravery has saved my sanity and given me invaluable points of reference and strategies that were not available anywhere else. Their insights fundamentally shifted the trajectory of my life and work. Why wouldn’t we want to honour our own clients in this way?
Realising that being successful in business is an invitation to explore and unleash creativity was captivating and I was keen to learn more. I was recommended two books which I found invaluable: ‘The Artists Way’ by Julia Cameron and ‘Big Magic’ by Elizabeth Gilbert. It was Julia’s work that introduced me to the concept of a ‘blocked creative’. With an enormous sense of relief, I now had a diagnosis. My worst fear; that I lacked creativity, wasn’t true. My creativity was simply blocked. Now to find the cure. For the longest time I had desired to write. A book was the ultimate aim, but I was struggling to find the words for a sales page or social media post without reading it back and squirming. Everything I wrote sounded cliche and samey. I knew what I wanted to say, I just couldn’t seem to express it in the way I wanted it to be heard. I was using other people’s vernacular and verbiage. Eventually I found a way to express my challenge; I couldn’t ‘find my voice’. Once I knew what I was looking for, I was half way there.
Creators aren’t just artists. They are authors, playwrights, sculptors, business owners, stylists; the list goes on. We are all creatives. Daring to own my identity as a creative was a game changer. It felt liberating, energising and true. I just needed to work through the blocks. This realisation coincided with me relocating to Dubai as a new wife and Mum of two young children. Having the space to settle us all into our expat lifestyle and being the centre of our newly formed household was an enormous blessing but it took up a great deal of my time and energy. Amusingly with hindsight, I was keen to punish myself for not having written my best-selling book yet and not having grown my business to FTSE 100 proportions.
Accompanying my husband on his business trip to China, I felt like a fraud. I was seeing the world, walking my talk, living a lifestyle that I had once only dreamed of, but who was I in all of this? I didn’t want to identify solely as a wife and mother, but could I still call myself an entrepreneur? Did I have a business or an expensive hobby? Maybe I should just give up and go and sit by the pool. What was wrong with me? Why didn’t I have this all sorted by now? I hadn’t even written my first book; it was just a bonkers looking collection of scribbled notepads and a series of rambling word documents I could barely keep track of.
Nearing China, the flight attendant handed out visa forms. My darling husband offered to fill mine in for me as I had my head firmly engaged in one of my favourite personal development books. I glanced across at the form he had filled out for himself and noticed with envy the ease at which he identified himself as a Company Director. Not for the first time on my self-employed journey, I wondered if I should return to salaried employment. I held my breath as he reached that section on my form. What would he write? Would he describe me as the ‘housewife’ that all UAE expat wives automatically have on their visas? Would he leave it blank? Without a sniff of hesitation, I saw him write something. As his hand moved so I could see what he had written, I saw the word ‘WRITER’ deftly marked in his confident capital letters.
As change makers we are gifted these pivotal moments. We are invited to keep moving and recommit to what our wisdom is calling us forward for. We are encouraged to recognise what within us seeks expression. When we lack faith, we need to lean into the faith that others have in us; to surround ourselves with the people who see our greatness, especially when we have temporarily forgotten. So, follow the calling of what within you needs to be seen by the world. Please do. I owe my current experience of life to people like you who have done just that. How many people, desperate for a cure, are currently seeking your unique brand of medicine?
Have faith in yourself and if you can’t find it right now, borrow my faith in you.
Trust your creations into the world.
You’ve got this.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s connection to your inner wisdom.
As always, I’d love to hear your comments below.
If you’d like to learn more about The Wisdom of Change oracle deck you can find out more here.
If you'd like to find out more about a Wisdom of Change reading with Wendy please click here.