The road to empowered creative wellness, inspired by my own personal journey

So, ten years ago, I was firmly settled in a corporate business finance career; I was good at my job, and I didn’t struggle to climb the corporate ladder into leadership roles. It was natural for me in many ways. 

I’ve always been creative but I struggled to go deep with my practice. I played on the surface, holding back and limiting myself.

I’m not sure if that was because I had low self-belief in my creative capabilities or because of perfectionism or comparison syndrome, or maybe it was just because I’d never been taught to actively value my creativity as something more than a silly hobby at best of at worst a complete waste of time!

I had cupboards full of art supplies and creative projects that would come out for short periods and then sit collecting dust and taking up energy and space… Of course, I still have cupboards full of creative stuff I don’t ever get to. It’s a lifelong battle.

But these days, I have a deep and nourishing creative practice, which has been a huge part of my personal growth and development journey for the past ten years.

 In fact, I’d probably claim that my creative itch was the universe's way of supporting me and guiding me during major crises and life awakening in my late 30s.  I had this creativity in my heart, this creative niggle, a whisper that got louder and louder until it just had to become part of my life.

The universe didn’t just send me one thing to wake me up and show me how to move towards creative empowerment. I’m really loyal to the choices I make, so it did take a bit of nudging.

I also felt a deep sense that something just wasn’t right and that there was more to life for me than what I was settling for. I longed for more depth, authenticity, and meaning in my life. I also had trouble creating the family life that I had aspired to, the one I thought I wanted with the nice house and the white picket fence.

My marriage was a complete disaster and simply not supportive and nourishing, and ultimately, my art practice helped me release that relationship (it did take a while). But I also had 4 miscarriages, one after the other, following the birth of my first textbook baby, Daisy, who’s now 12. For me, at baby loss number 4, I started to listen to the universe telling me this was not my path. And I needed to find a new way forward. That was my personal experience and the way that I allowed myself to grieve a life I thought I wanted and open myself up to a new future. My creative practice soothed me and helped me gain strength and resilience during these very difficult times. It helped me to heal and establish personal boundaries that supported my overall well-being. 

And guess what, the more I created, the more time I found to create. It became important for me to create. It become a priority. People would say, where did you find the time to do that? Knowing full well that my full-time corporate life and my young family had to be taking alot from me. But creating filled me up in new, deep, nourishing and dynamic ways.

During the early days, I didn't start painting straight away. Sure, I had paints, canvases, and even an easel, but I didn’t paint to heal or focus on painting at first. That journey took a good few years to transpire once I committed to a creative path. I had a love affair with my sewing machine for quite a while. I then started drawing, which led me to try many materials all the way back around to acrylic paint. 

Which is really my one true love.

The resistance to creativity is real. This is because creativity truly has healing powers if you are willing to do the work. The creative path to wellness is not easy, but it is tremendously rewarding.

Today, in addition to being a practicing artist, following my own creative journey, and selling my paintings, I’m a creative wellness coach. I support women in developing their own personal art practices as part of a lifestyle that supports every area of their lives, mind, body, and soul and propels them forward on the journey from feeling creatively disconnected to creatively empowered.

I do this work for a couple of reasons.

The first is that, in my own practice, the creative process is THE most important part. Preserving the process and following delicious, slow, and winding holistic art practices is central to the way I work, and sometimes, that means it takes a while to complete paintings or creative projects. I certainly don’t want to be in a position where I’m putting significant pressure on producing art, but I know it needs to be at the centre of what I do. 

And I believe there is so much gold and depth and wellness to this way of creating and art-making that it has become my mission to share what I know and what I’m learning and what I practice with as many women as I can. I believe that the creative journey towards creative empowerment acts like a mirror and a foundation for our overall personal wellness and growth journeys. One feeding the other.

Take care, Sam x

 Sam Horton is a professional artist, passionate about the links between art, creativity and well-being.

Learn more about Holistic art practices for well-being

Sam's Art Studio and Studio Shop are based in Australia on the Sunshine Coast.

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