Many years ago I diagnosed myself as having tired adrenals. I felt tired all the time, stressed, my cycles were wacky, and I didn't feel like myself anymore. I felt like something was missing… like I had somehow lost myself.
 

I had been reading What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Premenopause: Balance Your Hormones and Your Life From Thirty to Fifty.(affiliate link) Dr. Lee's list of symptoms for tired adrenals fit me, so I decided that I would try some of his helps to see if they worked. I was doubtful.
 

The help that really sounded most bizarre to me was to engage in a creative outlet. Even though I wasn't sure it would really help, I did want to purposefully add some creative time back into my life. The needs of several young children, along with one of them having had a chronic illness, had managed to squash out my crafty time. Or maybe I had really just let it squash out my time?
 

To my surprise, creative time helped me immensely! So much so that I believe every woman needs to be mindful to set set aside some time each week {if not every day} to engage in some sort of creative activity.
 

I recently wrote about creative outlet during perimenopause, and it inspired an idea. I got together with a couple of other ladies, and we will be hosting a link-up to bring us all a little girlfriend show and tell in order to inspire us all to keep being creative!

 

 

With These 2 Hands will be hosted on 4 different blogs~ the daisyhead, CreativLei, Serving From Home, and DaisyHead Creations. When you link up at one of our blogs, your link will show in the linky on all 4 blogs. {Woot!}

 

Our vision for the With These 2 Hands link up is to encourage women to have some sort of creative outlet, even if it's not strictly considered a "craft."

 

 

If you consider yourself a "non-crafty" person, please don't feel defeated, but be encouraged to engage in some sort of creativity. It's the creating that helps us, whether we are good at it or not… whether it is considered "crafty" or not. Maybe you enjoy woodworking or refinishing old furniture~ that is creative! Please share it with us!
 

I know many of us are moms and do crafts with our children, but this is not always the type of creating that replenishes mom. Sometimes it's stressful. {We can admit that, right?}
 

The kind of creative outlet we are talking about here is grown-up creating. Hopefully, as we see what others are creating, it will inspire us to branch out and try something new.
 

And you don't have to be a blogger to link up! Yep, you heard right!
 

You can link up any blog post, but you can also link up your Craftsy project page, your Ravelry project page, a flickr photo, Instagram photo, etc. All I ask is that it be more than just a picture. Tell us a bit about your creative outlet or why it relaxes you. The idea is to give ideas, inspiration, and encouragement to others.
 

The first With These 2 Hands link-up will be next Wednesday, February 27th.

 

So get your creative juices flowing, take some pictures, write a bit down to tell us about what inspired you or how you did it. Then go check out the WT2H Guidelines, grab a button, and be ready to link-up next Wedenesday! {And visit the other hosting blogs and ladies who linked up, of course! That's the fun part!}
 

Sounds fun, right?! Tell some girlfriends and have them link up, too. The more the merrier!