I haven’t written here in a long time.  Actually I checked and it’s just shy of two years.  We all were knee-deep in the pandemic then, virtual school and all.  That post was on creating a gap plan and it reflected where I was emotionally.  Just survival. 

With gratitude I don’t find myself in that level of stress today.  I’d like to hope I, and all of us, have grown since that time, including re-prioritizing our lives to focus on what’s most important.  I’ve been reading more in the past couple years, most recently a book by Eve Rodsky called Finding Your Unicorn Space.  The tagline sold me – “reclaim your creative life in a too-busy world.”  Boom.  Part of the re-prioritizing for me involves creativity, slowing down, and reflecting.

The book defines a Unicorn Space as the active pursuit of creative self-expression and reinforces that creativity is not an option but rather an essential part of being human.  We crave this.  I enjoyed reading about other folks’ unicorn spaces, ranging from common pursuits such as gardening or woodworking to amateur trapeze artistry or joining a hip hop dance troupe.  

This sent me on a quest to consider my own Unicorn Spaces.  Where do I feel creative and uniquely me?  It was hard to think of something initially.  Basically I spend a lot of my time working or driving kids to practice.  I do enjoy making craft-y things but my Cricut is covered in dust.  I enjoy cooking or baking on occasion.  I’m a fan of a heart-pumping group fitness workout but I’m not sure if that even counts as Unicorn Space.  I like to write but my mind tells me “I’m not a writer.”  I heard Eve Rodsky say in a podcast interview that we need to get away from “noun-ifying” our lives with comments like “I’m not a gardener” or “I’m not an artist” and instead to “verb-ify” our lives with “I grow stuff” or “I paint.” It’s process over perfection.

So here I am creating a blog post for my business website.  I’m not a blogger.  But occasionally I write.  It’s a creative outlet.  I enjoy the process.  I have no idea if it makes any impact in the world but it impacts me as a pursuit of creative self-expression.  It’s a Unicorn Space and I’m planning to spend more time actively pursuing this.

FYI I’ve grown increasingly interested in mental health for all, not just for folks who have a mental health diagnosis. Everyone can improve their mental health and work toward a more fulfilling life. I think that’s the purpose of this blog – to bring awareness and some tidbits for anyone to use. Perhaps this will spark an interest in someone to find their own Unicorn Space.