Creativity means to be who you are; to find words and images for your thoughts and feelings; to translate your inner life into outer forms, whether it be a garden, a painting, a poem, a home, a child, or a way of life.

– Thomas Moore, Dark Nights of the Soul

In my late twenties, I went through a challenging period of soul searching. I was struggling to understand my place in the world, and the next steps in my life were not materialising. All my ideas felt sterile. Realising my need for psychological support, I met with several therapists.

One of those therapists was quite memorable. He seemed unusually determined to give my stuckness a clean explanation. I told him about my insecurities, my doubts, and my desire to find congruent forms of expression in work and life. In response, he asked many questions about my parents, my childhood, and even the conditions of my birth. In the space of twenty minutes, he had the answer: my early life was to blame for my current disorientation. There was much work to be done.