In today’s Journey to 40, I wanted to share something that has been a relaxing tool for me that many don’t know about. It’s my creative side. Ever since I can remember, arts and crafts have been in my life. While a child, I would sit with my mother and make lacy barrettes for my curly Sunday hairstyles. Or when visiting my aunt, I would sit with her at her sewing machine making one of a kind designs. And even during my early twenties, I painted artwork as a side hustle. Yes, there’s a creative side in me. I just wish I tapped into it more.

Like many, I’ve grown up and have a job that involves weekly meetings in a conference room. Some times those meetings can be long and I get distracted with colorful pens which leads to extravagant doodles. That desire to use my creative side more is clearly trying to find its way out. So I did something about it.

Skillshare is a learning platform with online classes that will teach just about anything. Thanks to a promotional code, I get two months free to test out as many tutorials as I want.

I have a thing for tech and have been slowly taking my creative side up a notch. Adobe’s Creative Cloud has been helpful and I can officially say after two years, I’ve got Lightroom down. But there’s so much more in the Creative Cloud. Once I logged in to Skillshare, I noticed lessons on Illustrator. This was right on time. I can finally learn to expand on my colorful pen doodles. And who knows, maybe there will be some prints shared in future blogs.

Let me explain what Creative Cloud is for those that may not know much about it.

Creative Cloud is Adobe’s collection of software used for graphic design, video editing, web development, photography, along with a set of mobile applications and also some optional cloud services. I learned about this while working on a college campus and offered a faculty/staff code to test it out. I’ve not worked at that campus for two years now and have had to upgrade to the traditional package. We all know that I budget for everything. Adobe Creative Cloud is worth it!

The most well known Adobe products are Acrobat Reader and Photoshop, depending on your generation. But Creative Cloud has opened my eyes to so much more. As I mentioned earlier, Lightroom is one of my new favorites and with Skillshare I’m learning about the other programs.

As I countdown to turning 40 years old, the goal is to reclaim some of the little things I once enjoyed. However they disappeared or phased out, small pieces of them are still in my that I’m dedicated to tapping into once again.

If you’re interested in trying Skillshare, check out some of my favorite Podcasters that have a special code offer.

~Kelli