It’s funny how life works sometimes. As I’ve grown older I’ve realised it’s much more cyclical than I ever could have imagined.
For example, I had a thought the other night, as I lingered in the place between sleep and wakefulness. It’s not unusual for this to happen to me, my brain is the most relaxed it’s probably been all day and I often get weird and wonderful ideas at the point just before falling asleep.
I’ve learned to listen more to this part of my brain, be it my instinct or my subconscious, it’s worth listening to because often I can’t hear it during the day.
And often, when I listen and take action on those ideas, magical things happen.
So, back to that thought… This particular episode involved ideas of teaching, or perhaps it’s more like mentoring. Helping people gather, uncover and use their creativity. Something I’ve done in one way or another, officially and unofficially, for most of my life.
I was a teacher, even before I was a teacher.
To be less mysterious; I was the kid going around the classroom making sure everyone understood the work set, aged seven. Especially if it was creative work, definitely not so much Maths.
In secondary (high) school I was the one helping my art teacher set up the lesson, always interested in methods and ideas, and what my fellow classmates were creating. The art and design classroom felt like a second home. So I went on to study Art & Design for two years at college, then went to University and studied it even more, for three years, a Fine Art degree.
Even while I worked as a makeup artist at Chanel and freelance, I was teaching. Showing women how to apply their makeup so they felt more confident in their skills. Taking away any mystery and giving them the knowledge and tools to do it themselves.
I love helping people grow creatively. Later on the inevitable happened and I trained to be an actual school teacher, of kids aged 11-18.
My favourite parts of being an art teacher were opening up the creative side of the students’ minds. Enabling them to listen to that creative voice, and perhaps, occasionally when there wasn’t a creative bean in their body (or they had trouble listening to it) just being able to enjoy the process.
My least favourite parts of being a school teacher? Well, that’s another blog post 😉
It’s only now when I look back on all this, I can see the cyclical nature of it.
- The six years of training in what essentially is creativity and how to unlock it.
- The eight years blogging and writing.
- All the life experiences in between.
It’s like some weird magic formula that has resulted in me writing a book.
So my questions to you are;
- What does your subconscious talk to you about at night? Do you listen?
- Would you be interested in joining me and a small group to learn how to engage and open up your imagination and creativity?* (Online and maybe IRL at some point)
*Forgive my vagueness, it is intentional. This idea is still very much a seed that needs watering.
Photos by the brilliant Alexander Ward.
susan earlam ~ horror author 
I would love your input