Thank You Chronic illness for Creativity!

I have always been the creative one in the family. I have been creating jewelry for as long as I can remember, going into fads with modge podge, and even taught crafts for years at VBS. Actually I wanted to make creativity my life and applied for colleges which had specialized programs in metals & jewelry design. Despite my parent's strong misgivings I had plans to be a jewelry designer. Unfortunately I lacked the funds to follow through on my plans and settled instead for a private college. Instead of 34,000 a year in tuition I paid 2,000 a year which included room & board.

It's Good to Be Alive!

So I switched to theater. Evidently I had talent but bearing the soul on stage got nerve-wracking so I decided to switch to psychology. I did love my non-bio major course but biology majors took Calculus. I vowed to stay far away from any course which involved numbers, calculations, and words like derivatives. In a strange twist of fate my friend, who later dropped biology, convinced me to take a biology major course. After taking one I figured I would just keep going. With nothing better to do it seemed like a good idea.

Jewelry design fell by the side. I became passionate about immunology, lab work, and created transgenic fish. My life changed in a way I gradually fell into loving. I could not imagine a life which did not involve research, taking care of labs, and hopefully, graduate school. Getting sick came as a complete shock and instantly cut off my careful plans. Instead of work, lab, class, and more work I laid in bed unable to function without help. This went on for several months before I stopped with the pity and resumed the living.

Dysautonomia Beach Dreams on Etsy.com

My body's fall actually gave my creativity a boost. I returned to making jewelry with new passion. The watercolor course I was taking strictly for credit became a new means of finding myself. I have always been told I'm a good writer. I joined squidoo and put my writing to a use beyond research papers. People have found my work inspirational and their comments keep me writing. I started doing origami. In childhood I always got origami books from people and gave up on them after a few meager attempts. Now I do it all the time.

Just one of the 1,000 paper cranes I am making

On days where my hands shake very little I work on my latest project. My older sister is working on a dollhouse for her little girl and is utterly lost at sewing. Last Christmas I offered to do the bedding. Several weeks ago she showed up with the whole collection of furniture, some paint, and a few  requirements. I have been sanding, painting, upholstering, and soon will be varnishing. In the old days I would never have had the time to consider upholstering baby swings, painting bathroom sets in color schemes, and sewing intricate bedspreads.

A Recent Watercolor of Mine

Every week seems to bring out something new I never imagined was in me. My chronic illness has made my creativity reach new heights. Even my watercolors have finally started to stop looking like blobs. I have not given up on my original dreams. Those will never be far from my mind. I could be bitter about it but I choose to find ways to be thankful for the today. Without my chronic illness I would not be here on Blogger or Squidoo. So I am going to be thankful today to you chronic illness.

To all who are reading this: do something creative and new today. Your mind is to beautiful of a thing to not be used in new ways. And if you would like, share the ways you do with this chronically ill girl.