One minute I was a business woman providing events to thousands of women a year, then I became obsolete overnight. It was surreal, scary and left me feeling rather pointless. Every day I would wake up and lie in bed feeling vaguely discombobulated. No bus

One minute I was a business woman providing events to thousands of women a year, then I became obsolete overnight. It was surreal, scary and left me feeling rather pointless. Every day I would wake up and lie in bed feeling vaguely discombobulated. No business to focus on, no friends or family to see - what was the point of it all?

The other thing was having nothing to look forward to. I went through my calendar and sadly crossed out Ben Elton, the Clunes Book Festival, Menopause the Musical and many other events that were going to be the social and cultural highlights of my 2020. Now it looked like Netflix, endless cups of tea and chocolate biscuits were going to fill the void.

But then Mum’s garage ceiling fell in and everything changed. She had been meaning to declutter her garage for years, now she had to. Who knew what treasures lurked within?

As it turned out my saviours came in the form of a box of vintage paper dolls, my Grandmothers’ very old sheet music, a school case full of freaky antique dolls and an Uncles’ photo album. Having all this time on my hands and desperate to be productive my creativity went through the roof. Collage artwork, a story, a photo shoot, a series of cards and an Etsy shop have all come into being because of these events.

Now I wake up excited each morning with the endless creative possibilities ahead of me. The joy I feel when in ‘flow’ creating something is priceless in terms of mental health therapy. So oddly, I have to say thank you to Covid 19 (and Mum’s dodgy builder). Without this forced ‘holiday’ from my real life, my dormant creative side would not have emerged from it's long hibernation.