I started a business. It made me want to drink copious quantities, smoke myself into oblivion and hit my head against a brick wall. Instead I wrote a blog.
My whole life, I have been envious of creativity. That spark of innate talent residing in musicians, artists and authors which, no matter how hard I worked, I couldn't emulate. It has occurred to me that I have surrounded myself by talent (often combined with hard work, but sometimes not) throughout my travels. Some of my best friends are musicians - my Parisian brother, funky DrKev, my guru and constant inspiration, the immensely talented Duncan Roberts of Dictafone, my mate Charlie, a brash and funny Yorkshire man of The Downtown Merry legs (he does enjoy the odd pint or two) are among my many musical friends - not forgetting of course my hugely creative boyfriend who is a double platinum award winner several times over. Wouldn't I just love to be a musician!
And yet if you had been around in Northern England in 1982, you would have spied a small girl furiously biting the wood out of her piano (yes, biting), because she hated being forced to practice the damn thing every day. This lasted 12 years (the practicing not the biting). Not much changed since then; I bought a piano in 2004 thinking maybe that I could overcome my block against practice, but to no avail. 3000 euro worth of therapy sat there in ebony and ivory like a jeering two fingers stuck up at my mother whilst the 7 year old inside me gloatingly said,
'You can sit there for as long as you like, but I don't have to practice you ever again.'
It was then given away for free last year, having never been played. I wasn't creative and not even 3000 euro could muster any flicker inside me.
Thus it was with joy that I read an article yesterday (posted by our social media consultant Gill) which taught me there were different types of creativity.
- Thomas Edison - creativity that comes through sustained working in a discipline
- Isaac Newton - creativity that comes through a flash of inspiration after puzzling for a long while on a problem
- Artist/Musicians - spontaneous and emotional creativity that comes from the amygdala (this part of the brain which is clearly missing from me)
- A-Ha Moment - creativity through realization after personal crisis, or so-called 'experienced deliberate, emotional creativity'
I certainly don't compare myself to Edison or Newton and as my disastrous journey with the piano proves, I am no musician. But I might sit in the fourth quadrant with the heroes of my youth(!).
Investment Impact is the result of much pain, indignation and anger at being separated from my child to go back to work. It's born out of a desire to change the world, to the benefit of everyone if they have ever suffered with the whole life-work balance issue.
So whilst I will never compose a tune, invent something as earth shattering as electricity or write theorems on earth's physical properties I just might go someway to helping families be together.
And I'm happy with that.