05/28/2023
The Lola Lessons #1
‘Leave No Creativity Unbirthed’
So for 25 years I was a creative. I wrote and produced plays, developed musicals, choreographed dances, wrote poems, and created an array of entertaining, educational workshops for businesses, organizations, schools, teams, adults, teenagers, and children. And for the most part, I loved every minute of it, and even when it was hard because it was my work, because those I supported needed/expected me to show up I did again and again.
If I could create something that would showcase you, build your confidence, show your potential, shine your light, I was in. My passion was my all out commitment to your growth. What I did not completely undertand was that I’d have rather helped you, supported you in your dreams, then support my own.
During the pandemic, I had some serious health issues that knocked me sideways and made me reevaluate and look at my beliefs and my way of showing up in the world and showing up for myself.
What I came to undertand was that
I had forgotten how to create for the pure joy of creating, creating for creativity sake.
I had forgottten my dreams or even how to dream
I had forgotten how to support and show up for myself.
So during my darkest times I created, and it was challengig
Never before painted but encouraged by my sister-in-law I painted from YouTube videos,
I made myself a promise to write one poem or song per week and made myself accountable to my sister for 10 weeks.
I lovingly created, renovated, and decorated the first house I’d ever turned into a home in my 50 years on the planet.
I knitted scarves and hats for the ones I loved
I took photos of things that spoke to me of beauty and awe
I planted flowers.
I built rock stupas,
and I wrote.
And as I created, as I put myself and my creativity and my dreams first I healed and as I healed the creativity flowed.
I realized that in showing up and supporting myself that there was a wealth and depth of untapped creativity inside of me and that my greatest regret or sadness would be if I left this earth with all that magic left inside of me.
But I was afraid, afraid to share my creativity...and yet I yearned to share it.
Afraid it would not be liked or be sophisticated or good enough... and yet who was I trying to impress and why did I care?
Afraid that if I put it all out there it would lead to something I was not yet ready for...
And yet I’d spent 25 years teaching others that ‘it is their light not their darkness that most frightens them that if they face their fears and let their light shine they unconsciously give other people permission to do the same’.
It is humbling to be a person who taught for years how to face fears, how to believe in yourself, how to Be Your Best and then to find out you’ve not been following your own teachings....and so today I take my own advice and I’m going to share my creativity and learnings of the last few years, share my insights, my stories, my creativity and my vulnerability.
May all the creativity I have locked up inside of me, and all the magical creativity that has been gifted to me flow freely out of me and into the world. For now I am going to call these sharings ‘The Lola Lessons’ and yet since I am for ever in a state of evolving this too may change.
AND...
If these posts resonate with you, wonderful
If they inspire you to create, brilliant
If they make you laugh or cry, beautiful
If they make you pause and think, remember or reevaluate, fantastic
If they make you want to reach out to me or others and start a conversation, awesome
If not, if they make you want to react in a negative way that’s ok too because then I’m not your person or post today and may you keep surfing and may you find your wave.
JL Laale ‘Lola’
