Behind The Mistakes is a YouTube channel - about, well, it's hard to describe! Maybe it's best described as a physical manifestation of an unfretted mind, left to its own devices - or should one say tools?
It actually took me forty(!) years to understand that I am a maker! Although I have always been making, in one way or another, it was after stumbling over YouTube I understood that a maker, is also a noun! The Maker Community broadened my horizon to the diversity, not only in the people, but in the range of art forms - which it is! The mutual admiration and joy of learning new skills.
I have my entire live been writing, drawing, singing (not well), performed, worked as stage technician, building things, painting, woodworking, electrical engineering etc. All as means to channel a inner drive I did not know how to put a lid on, while pursuing a "regular" career withing marine engineering.
I was early on, from a young age, told "You're such a creative soul!", which I in the beginning took as a compliment. As I grew older though, I started picking up on what was said in between the lines. Subtle hints along the lines of "..,but what will you do when you grow up?".
I believe it was the late professor Ken Robinson who at a TED Talk went on to tell a story about a friend of his, "Gillian Lynne", who were brought to the doctor as a young girl for having trouble concentration at school. The doctor in this case, asked Gillian to sit still while he went out to talk to her mother - turning on the radio on his way out. The minute they left she was on her feet, moving to the music.
I can't explain how much the next thing the doctor said to Mrs. Lynne has resonnated with me; "Gillian is not sick, she's a dancer! take her to a dance school!". To this day I still watch this TED Talk from time to time, just to feel the goose bumps rise on my arms.
Gillian went on to describe the feeling of finally walking into a room with people like her self. People who could not sit still, but needed to move to think. Myself, I can't think without a pencil in my hand - drawing out all sorts of creations.
Gillian went on to have the most fantastic carreer, touching the lives of millions! Today she might have been diagnosed with ADHD, put on medicine and told to "calm down".
Realizing I'm a maker took the lid of a creatice pressure cooker - or was it a Pandora's box? Well, I'll guess we'll find out!
