During a wonderfully inspiring conversation yesterday (which gave me the final push I needed to actually get this site off the ground – thank you J!), we hit upon the subject of creative secrecy.
I find it fascinating how much creative people hide from their nearest and dearest – from people they’ve known for years and from people they’ve just met, even though it’s a huge part of them.
I’ve now been blogging for so long that most new people I meet have an inkling of that already, especially if we have mutual friends or have met through people we both know at work or whatever. And although I still freak out when people I know read my blog, almost 11 years of sharing my life on the internet has made it feel far more normal to mention in conversation.
Yet I still find it hard to talk about my photography and alter ego work, the things closest to my heart and which mean the most. (I love blogging, but I don’t think mine is necessarily world changing, and I dip in and out of it frequently depending on my mood…!) While I can’t live without documenting my world visually and creating characters, somehow those are the hardest things to tell people about.
Until I make a connection with someone, and through a chance comment, we find we think the same way. And the joy of being able to talk freely about my imagination and the way I see the world, and why I’m driven to make the words and images and characters that are in my head… it’s like nothing else, knowing someone else gets it (even if they create in a totally different way).
I think that’s one of the things I’ve always hoped to do through my blog and my businesses, in all their guises – give people permission to talk about what’s most dear to them, what they truly love and who they actually are. To inspire them to do just that, and know that they are enough, whatever it is they are doing or trying or creating.
In hope that this site isn’t another of my passing phases, and that it’s here to stay (it does bear my name, after all!)…
With love & unicorns,
Carla xx