Happiness in Creativity

For young adults, finding something you love to do can bring about a sense of happiness and a great business along the way. Una Rice talked to two young women who are finding joy in being creative.

When the world seems troubled and overwhelming, and your thoughts are ‘out there’ as you try to feel safer, and happier, one of the most surprising ways to usher in a sense of calm within, is to focus on a small task, whatever feels immediately satisfying – be it sowing seeds, baking a cake, sketching or knitting.

The last year has seen many young Irish people, work on something completely new from home, something they might otherwise not have had the time or headspace for. And in some instances, it’s brought not just a welcome distraction, but a great learning opportunity with business potential, as well as a whole bunch of happiness.

For Lisa Rose McMahon, 20, a second-year primary teaching student, lockdown initially meant major interruption to college life, and a sense of feeling ‘lost.’ 

‘‘Watching everyone being productive on social media made me feel really bad about myself because I wasn’t keeping up,’’ recalls Lisa Rose. But that was before Honeysuckle Cottage, an idea, that once planted began to blossom and help Lisa Rose tap into her inner crafter.

‘‘Initially, and I’m sure lots of people can agree with me, I thought that the first lockdown would somehow fix everything and that we’d be back to normal in a month or two. However, this obviously wasn’t the case. I felt robbed of my college life. I’m well aware it’s not all about having the college social life and that my degree is much more than that, but I did feel as though I wouldn’t get the chance to ever tip into town to go to the cinema, meet the girls in Spoons before a night out or just even catch up with my friends in between lectures in the library and chat about assignments and the craic from the night before. I did feel angry that this had been taken from me, but I also felt the comfort of knowing I wasn’t the only student in Ireland who was feeling this way.’’

At one-point Lisa Rose felt she had little or no motivation to complete college tasks, go for a walk in the evening or even have a self-care night because as she says, ‘‘I didn’t feel as though I had anything to look forward to. I kept this bottled in for a while and if it wasn’t for the support of my friends and family I would have never gotten out of that mindset.’’

What also helped, was watching her parents immerse themselves in the renovation of an old cottage down the road from their home. Lisa Rose had also seen her mum create little gifts for friends and family and she started to think about a spin off business linked to the ever-evolving cottage transformation. ‘‘I’ve always loved the idea of homemade gifts as opposed to something anyone can buy in a shop.’’

Lisa Rose settled down with her idea – framed pebble and button art, with special messages - often, after a long day of online college lectures, work tasks and assignments. The first item she made for commission was button art framed for a friend’s nanny’s birthday. Word spread and soon that piece was to become an unexpected best seller.

As orders came in, via Facebook and the Instagram page @honeysucklecottagemonaghan, the family turned to a local frame supplier as they wanted to support another local business. 

Between online college and her new business, Lisa Rose reflects on her happiness. ‘‘From a young age I’ve always loved messing about with arts and crafts and working on little DIY projects. Even if it was making a pencil holder out of kitchen roll tube it kept me occupied’’ she says.   ‘‘It’s so important to find things that inspire you and give you a reason to get up in the morning.’’

Meanwhile, faced with the same restrictions, Amy Smyth, 20, was formulating an idea of her own. After completing her favourite make-up course at college, she’d spent six months with Inglot on Grafton Street, before lockdown last year found her living back home in quiet Bailieborough, Cavan. She desperately missed the days she’d spent in the store doing live demo masterclasses for customers. She wondered about the possibilities of doing ‘lives’ from her own bedroom, under her name ‘muaims’ on Instagram and Tik Tok.

‘‘My biggest fear was someone in the house walking in on me,’’ laughs Amy, who warned her mum she was doing her first ever ‘live’, and then sat in her room for an hour doing nothing, positive that her mum would forget and walk in looking for the dog. Once that actually happened, Amy had got her message across that the live demos had to be uninterrupted spaces – and she still didn’t know how it would work out. In fact, she was most concerned about how she would come across. 

‘‘I was worried people who know me would think I was projecting a different persona,’’ she admits.

As it worked out, she needn’t have worried. Not only did she love doing the live demos, she began to get great feedback. And although it was never about the numbers, an initial handful of followers began to grow and grow.

Not only that, she’d found something that gave her huge joy, as she attempted more challenging make up effects, including newspaper print effect over one side of her face. 

Amy loves doing the lives, but now has plans to return to college to study Fine Arts, but for the moment has found something that takes her away from lockdown gloom. The vast majority of her followers are female, and a huge proportion are in the 13-18-year old age bracket – and her followers continue to grow.

‘‘Happiness is something achievable. It’s not going to find you if you do nothing to find it,’’ says Amy. ‘‘I had to find make up. I had to train myself to be hyper focused on being creative and imaginative. The happy spot for me is painting my face!’’ WW