One of the things about growing up at a time when those around you were creating and producing things - or repairing things - is the inner self confidence that came with believing you can achieve almost anything if you put your mind to it – the “Yes You Can” mindset. Nothing flamboyant, just a quiet confidence that re-enforces a sense of purpose, our sense of self worth.
I was lucky to grow up at such a time in my country of birth, Romania where, until 1989, our President had a simple mantra for our country – “If we need it, we make it” – and we really did, the list of what we made ourselves was simply amazing - cars, trains, aeroplanes, tractors, farm machinery, oil and gas extraction and refining plants, all our food needs and the fertilisers to help them grow, our excellent, undervalued, wines from the diverse micro-climates of Romania, our sea and Danube River port activities, our winter sports resorts high in the mountains, the same but sea and sand on our Black Sea coast, and all the activities in our two world heritage areas, the Danube Delta and the wilderness of the Carpathian mountains, and much much more, activities that led to Romania being a debt free country at the time of Ceausescu's death.
I am completely sure that at all times, especially at times of change, the “Yes You Can” mindset helps us to build a habit of seizing opportunities and facing down challenges. But this mindset comes with practice, with experimentation, with sorting out failures and with hard worked-for successes. So, not unexpectedly, behind the scenes of my life as a dedicated painter and promoter of the creative alchemy system, I am a worker bee.
The point is that experimenting with making things builds self-confidence even while not knowing what the new activity might lead to. The self-confidence, sense of purpose and self worth that all this has delivered to an isolated arts practice like ours has been more than really important.
So, if you have the urge to invent or to make something please do get in touch if you would like a mentor or coach or someone to help you to challenge the previously unchallenged. It will be fun. Facing up to new challenges has that affect, doing it as a group of eager creator makers even more so.