For several months now, I’ve been swept up in a tidal wave of creative energy, a force that seems to be steadily rising in both power and momentum. Which is awesome (and super fun!) but also sort of feels like bad timing, mainly because I’m in the middle of moderately concerning health crisis that will presumably, at some point in the near future, require ample doses of rest, slowness, and restoration. So what am I supposed to do with all this energy that wants to act, build, and expand? Couldn’t we have saved it all for a more convenient time?

But then a friend helped me see how I was needlessly making this into a mutually exclusive paradox. Because while creativity often pushes me outward and forward, this is not the only option. Creativity also pulls me inward. And channeling my creative energy into my own healing, internal process, and personal catharsis is a perfectly suitable use for it.

I share this because it reflected back to me an important lesson and an obvious truth I was missing. Basically, I am a worthy recipient of my own best energy, and my creativity is not just for the world; it is for me.

It is entirely okay to give what is most energizing and electric in our lives to ourselves first. It does not need to be channeled into some external, productive something; it does not need to be for others first (or ever); it does not need to result in a tangible, sensible outcome.

So rest and creativity want to co-exist in my life right now, and that’s brings an interesting set of questions: Like, how can I both rest and create at the same time? How can I invite creativity into my healing? What new and unexpected thing will be born of this seemingly paradoxical fusion?

So where are your creative energies taking you, friends? How is creativity blazing your trail or lighting your way? What is it calling forth or asking of you? What unexpected, beautiful, and mysterious spaces it is opening up in your life?