There are some myths you grow up with you may struggle to accept such as “there is a book inside everyone waiting to be realised” or a song, maybe even a great work of art and all you need to do is release it to the world. I have struggled all my life with this concept as many do I have come to learn. Whatever it is lurking inside me the subject matter eludes me, what story to tell in my book, what lyric or melody for my song or what vista for the picture.

However, one concept I can truly get on board with is that everyone does harbour a degree of creativity within themselves whoever they are. So no book, song or picture but how about a beautifully crafted cake or staged presentation of a meal.

To my surprise, it turns out to be woodworking. I know right, what a showstopper. As you may know, cooking is my passion but my creativity is set free when I am in the workshop. I use the term workshop loosely here as what I really mean is half a dozen simple tools in a shed, but it has become the workshop because I said it is so.

I bought myself an orbital sander for a task I needed and it turns out it was quite therapeutic and immensely satisfying so obviously once finished I cast my eye around for something else to sand, anything to sand, even the dogs started to look nervous. With a constant stream of vocal “NO’s” echoing around the house I was fast running out of options. Not to be defeated I retired to the workshop to sulk and there it was, the key to unlocking my creativity.

Sitting in the corner was an old piece of wood about the size of a chopping board covered in dust and cobwebs and what could possibly be identified as bird droppings. I scraped and scrubbed, wiped and cleaned and soon had something I could pick up without reaching for the rubber gloves. Yes, sorted, back to sanding and oh my, it looked awesome as the grains and character of the wood started to slowly show through.

Beautiful but misshapen, so back to shopping; one saw and one router later I was set. The workshop was now truly a workshop and not a figment of my imagination. So I cut the wood so it was sporting straight edges which I then zipped around with the router to make all shapely. It was surprisingly easy when you have the right tool for the job. A bit more sanding because I could and my board was looking drop dead gorgeous.

The icing on the cake was when I then added some wax to the main surface and polished it up with a soft cloth, the transformation was unreal, and everything just popped. It was one of those moments when you wish life had a pause and rewind button so I could replay that moment again and again.

My project was complete and like a phoenix rising from the ashes my piece of scrap wood that was probably destined for the fire or bin had become my work of art and will probably feature either in the kitchen or as a setting in future blog posts, I just can’t decide at the moment.

The only down side to this journey of self-discovery now that my creativity has been set loose to roam the corridors of my mind is that instead of sleeping when I go to bed I lay there for hours planning my next project…oh well…

Have you ever discovered the joys of woodworking?

How have you realised your creativity?

* This is a collaborative post.