I have always considered myself to be creative. I really enjoy looking at the metaphorical box and then throwing it away. Or as when I was a child, I would take boxes and turn them into toys with my brother and sister. Duct tape was usually involved and sometimes knives stolen from the kitchen. What can I say? We were farm kids and resourceful.

The funny thing is that in the different eras of my life, my God-given gifts show up differently. In college, I was mainly academic and social. I love to learn. I love to talk to people. SO these became the top priority. In high school, I was really into having good grades and singing. Sometimes these two worlds collided in weird ways. Sorry to everyone in my math classes through high school for singing as I worked. haha. 

In this era, I crave silence and solitude. I love being by myself and in the quiet. I often forgo listening to music as I go and do things. I find rest in these times. I have found new homes for my secret passions and hobbies. These things that I kept to myself are now more known. It's weird.

I've always known I can sing. I didn't sing much in college. I would sing when it was appropriate. I didn't do much to try and actively pursue music. Now music just flows out of my being. I found my passion to create music again. To sing and have my heart fly out with the words and notes. 

I used to never really be that great at writing. I remember sitting in my mom's kitchen "office" when I was young, telling her stories for her to type up for whatever class I needed a paper for. I can talk well. I know how to speak publicly. So for me as being young, this was the best way to learn how to create words that are more permanent than those spoken.   

 I love to read. I always have. Reading is my refuge. My idea of a good weekend is about a dozen books, curled up in a cozy chair, with a never-ending supply of iced mochas. I have read so many books. Thousands. Maybe even tens of thousands. I couldn't imagine my life without the written word.

I read a book, that I sat on the floor in a bookstore in Portland, Oregon to read, about creativity. In this it said if there is something that you love to consume, why don't you make it. These may not be the exact words, but it sparked something in me. Since then, I have more actively pursued my passions. And by this I mean those which require a creative thought process.