Shifting

Shift. To move or cause to move from one place to another, especially over a small distance. Change in gear.

I think this is the best definition of what my business and life have over the past few years and specifically the past few months. I'm shifting. At first, I thought it was a HUGE CHANGE, but now that I'm over the hump of it, I realize it's really only a small shift. Things are funny that way.

So, this is my shift post. It's about how something started, shifted, shifted, shifted and is now shifting again. Take a look.

Somewhere in 2012 or 2013, I met Caylee online. We bonded over our love for scrapbooking and living outside our home country.

In 2014, we had a desire to shift. To be artists. We were already creating, but we wanted to shift from casual makers to consistent artists. So we start a little weekly challenge of creating an art journal page a day.

But quickly that shifted. More people joined us, then It shifted again into blogs posts, link ups, then became a facebook group, then a website, and shifted some more into the new website. It went from just us, to a group, to a movement. It went from weekly posting, to a community, to teaching. The shift was somehow unseen and unplanned but we felt it more like an earthquake sometimes. It went from a hobby to full time jobs and teams of people and having lawyers, accountants and official letters after our names on tax forms. Shifts.

In 2015 we made the biggest shift and started making money from Get Messy. It was mind blowing that we could actually get paid to do something we loved so so much and were going to do anyway!

In 2017, I quit my job. Shifty shifty shift shift. Get Messy slowly shifted into being my full time, full brain, full mess.

It felt like such a subtle shift from each idea, page and iteration to the next. We went from blog posts to facebook to websites. Then we went from a small group to 1000's. The next shift came when we started teaching outside our own site at incredible places like Big Picture Classes and Creativebug. These were shifts in how we saw ourselves and when we realized what our reach was. It was bigger than us.

In the middle of all this another shift was happening, quietly, in the background for me. I was growing lonely. I had left my job as an elementary school social worker, complete with 500 students, 40 teachers and an office full of mates and I shifted to a new country, a new home, a new day to day. One full of loneliness and isolation.

This was not a shift I saw coming nor enjoyed. We sat down and asked how we could curb this and the answer became a dream, a vision I had had: a creative retreat. A beautiful home on the beach filled with women and art. So we shifted. I ran the first Art Retreat in Charleston of this year in February and another shift began to slowly pull me towards my new place.

I couldn't get enough of the retreats, the workshops, the in person creating. I had shifted.

My heart was also shifting backward. Back to my social work days of fighting for justice, providing support and speaking up for others who couldn't speak out for themselves. My heart was tap tap tapping me and reminding me of my purpose on this earth. I had shifted a little too far from it and it wanted me back.

Shift.

Then I had to make the hardest decision - possibly ever. Would I honor the shift? Would I follow it's pulling to a new direction?

Spoiler: I am.

This is my last week at my beloved Get Messy. Im shifting. I'll be continuing to run art retreats, in person and teaching online and I'll be working to advocate for social justice through art + creativity - think Fair Trade!

In the moment of making the decision to step down from helping run and teach at Get Messy every day felt like a crazy leap, but when I look back at my story and consider all it's twists and turns, flashing neon signs, and subtle shifts - I realize that's all it is. It's a shift.

Before I move into all the new things that'll be happening and dive into planning retreats and launching podcast episodes, I wanted to take a moment to honor my time in this amazing stage of life + business. Most of the good things I have in my creative life can be attributed to Get Messy.

Here are a few of my favorite moments from the past few years - though there are so many more things I loved and just can't list them all here.

Every.Single.Meet.Up.
Every time I met a Get Messy member in person it was the greatest day of my life. I LOVE connecting in person with you guys and being able to hug you, hold your art in my hands and sit and laugh together face to face makes every moment of fighting technical battles with website glitches worth running an online business to know the amazing people on the other side of the screen is who it is all for.

Meeting Caylee in person for the first time!
The fact that we met online, in different countries, started a business together and then were able to meet in person and be immediately so comfortable together, even our husbands loved eachother!, I knew that this was meant to be.

Seeing the new branding for Get Messy.
I don't know about you, but when we rebranded Get Messy to reflect who we were at the beginning of this year, it made my heart explode with happiness. It is so beautiful y'all and is a perfect reflection of this community.

Our week in San Fran filming with Creativebug.
I've talked about this experience endlessly and will never stop. It was all of my dreams come true. Walking to 'work' through the Mission every day, collaborating with the most insanely talented and creative staff, getting to bring our vision to life, sharing our love for art journaling. It was my absolute dream life. I'll never stop being grateful for that week.

Here is what I have learned through my time at Get Messy

My style
When I started art journaling I leaned toward a heavily scrapbook inspired style as this is where I was coming from - scrapbooking! I did simple collages, using lots of photos, quotes and colorful backgrounds. My style has completely morphed now and involves so much paint and abstract work but! There is still that same basis of using lots of photos, color everywhere and bold words.

My style has gotten so much messier and has pushed into new, more experimental territory but it feels just as much me as those early scrapbook pages did. I feel like at first I was just trying to find ways to get my ideas onto pages - literally, now my pages feel like experiments in technique and style.

I can run a business
This journey of creative evolution and business building has changed me, challenged me, shown me things about myself I never knew I possessed, changed my life wholly.

Ive learned about risk, joy, connection, what I love and dont, business, building, growing, changing, being vulnerable, saying what you want out loud, making your own dreams come true.

Ive learned how to run a business and that Im actually good at it. Ive learned about accountanting and taxes and customer service and website building. Ive learned that I can create the life I want and create what I want in this world through business. I've learned how incredibly empowering that is and that I want to help other women do that for themselves.

Teaching!
I learned through teaching courses at Get Messy, live, in person and online just how much I actually love teaching about art and creativity. Teaching is what makes my brain light up with ideas and gets me excited to work each day. Ive learned that this is an important part of my creative process and that I want to lean into it more.

Connection
As you've read and heard, connection is so important for me and I didn't realized how much I thrived on it until I had lost it. I realized also that Im not alone in this. I learned the power of organizing events that bring connection is a very powerful tool that I want to continue to wield for good in this world.

Creative challenges
Gosh yall. When it comes to creating, there is nothing that motivates and energizes me more than a creative challenge. WHICH IS HOW AND WHY GET MESSY WAS CREATED! It was a creative challenge. I will never stop singing their praises.

What's next for me you ask?

First, Quiet. Ill be truly taking a break for a bit this summer from working and getting some quiet in to process all that is happening and hoping to find some clarity in my new direction.

Retreats! Ill be focusing heavily on organizing retreats for you! for me! for all our creative and adventurous friends! Ill be announcing the next retreat SO SOON - so be sure you're signed up on my email list to get access to those spots.

Workshops + Courses - of course. My online courses are open for new students to join and are the perfect creative challenge for your summer. I also have two new creative courses coming out this summer - again be on my email list to know first!

How She Creates will relaunch its 3rd season on Monday! Get Excited to hear more interviews about the creative secrets of highly creative people and I'm launching a new mini-series called How She Creates Good that will elevate women who are using creativity to create good in the world! Subscribe via your favorite podcast player.

My last and biggest desire is to begin advocating for and working with creative programs who are providing an opportunity for women to be empowered through creative business.

Phew. If that felt like a lot to you, it does to me too. Like I said, some shifts can feel subtle and some can feel more like an earthquake.

Im so grateful that you are here, following and cheering me along. I hope we get to meet face to face one day soon. I hope that you are encouraged in whatever shift you are in that it's normal to shift, it's normal to change, to move in new directions or old ones.

Here's to shifting and to shifting with gratitude.

I'm going to leave you with my very first art journal page ever. What I wrote as my intentions on this page are so perfectly what I feel has summed up these past 6 years.

"This art journal is a collection of things I love, my thoughts, hopes, dreams, prayers, ideas, attempts at new things and a space to create with no limits or bounds or rules."

In Messiness & Grace,
Lauren