Just color!
When I think of self expression I think of Madonna’s song, Express Yourself. They lyrics are about a different subject entirely but four simple words ring true, “Express Yourself, Respect Yourself”. I’ll explain. To express yourself is to resect yourself. As humans we have an innate need to do so and have since our baby beginnings. We cried, we smiled, we hugged, we stacked, colored, painted,drew, played dress-up, wore make-up, tried personal styles, all to express our thoughts, our needs, our perspectives. From the beginning of our lives It’s been a perpetual evolution of creative expressing and I was in it.
I was always expressing myself, creating forts and spaces, decorating my room at home, exploring my looks, my make-up, my hair color, my clothes, I went on like that for a long time until,  until I forgot.
I became an adult and I forgot about expressing myself. I got distracted by social connections, places to go, jobs to have, dating to do, and a career to form. I was too busy to color, draw, paint decorate or sew. I didn’t even have fun with make-up anymore. I was too grown.Ok, I kept the dim light of creativity burning deep in my soul but I wasn’t really listening. I went on like that, career, social life, who was who and what was where until again, until I started working on creating a family. It sparked the pilot light that had been burning. I was creating something new. A different kind of life, I was a partner and building our nest was so much fun. I started creating again, I started painting walls, distressing furniture, sewing pillows and mosaic flower pots. We built a garden, I had a baby, I was back into creating my life, creating and coloring it with my self expression, my style, my vision. The more I created the more I created. Creativity is like that. Wen you do it, even in little ways it kicks in and starts to filter into everything other thing you do. Then, my life got tricky, I got divorced and the creativity simmered to a pilot again. As I continued to raise my kids and be involved in their classrooms creativity called on me, thank goodness. The campus wanted to be updated and I created, I started to feel inspired, to create tile walls, murals, display cases, anything I could get my hands on. I was coloring my life again. As time went on and my kids grew I realized that I liked to create spaces, helping friends have a new way to be in their homes, a new way to see their belongings. I liked making spaces that were inspiring. Creating helped me get back to respecting myself by expressing myself. In the divorce process I realized I had lost my sense of self in the tangle of undoing a family. But the creating, adding color to spaces and places bought me back to me, to my need to create more. Eventually after one of our visits to LACMA I realized I had to create a space where people of all ages could express themselves, their way. That grew a blaze of firelight in me, to make space where everyone could color their day, their world, their way. Like Madonna says, Express Yourself, Respect Yourself”
Today, add a little color to your world. No matter what else is going on, no matter what life is asking of you, express yourself by coloring a little something that is the expression of you.
Here’s a little  coloring page  I made for you. It’s just for fun and it’s just for you. Express yourself, Respect Yourself.

xo Jemma