Rose Wasserman's Personal Review of Flourish with Painting & Creativity
Rose Wasserman came to Flourish thinking she wasn’t even creative (I love hearing how she transformed this idea). Listen in as she shares what the program offered and how it shifted her experience of daily life to include a personal outlet, outside of work, that was meaningful and fullfilling for her.
Rose Wasserman shares her thoughts about Flourish in her own words:
It’s My Absolute Pleasure to Introduce you to Rose Wasserman!
In this video, Rose generously shares her experience and thoughts about Flourish in her own words. Click play to listen in and discover how Flourish helped her discover her hidden talents as a creative!
I loved Interviewing Rose and having her as part of the Flourish community.
If you would like to nurture your creativity, learn how to paint and flourish in your creative life, I invite you to check out my online year-long creativity school. It is packed FULL of inspiration, support and guidance to help you make next year your most creative year to date. I’d be so honoured if you’d like to join us.
Flourish: The Art of Creative Living is Now Open for Enrolments!
Check out the full program and discover what being a member in Flourish is all about here — Flourish: The Art of Creative Living – A Year-Long Creativity School.
I’d love to paint with you!!!!
With love,
Nicola xx
PS. If you enjoyed this video, please feel free to use the sharing tools on this page to share it with your friends, or send them the link to this page directly! I’d be so grateful to spread the word about how we can all nurture our creativity and how it supports our wellbeing, health and overall life.
If you missed Georgie McNee’s Review you can view it by clicking here.
Rose Wasserman Testimonial
Nicola: Hi everyone. Welcome, and I’m so excited that you’re here today, because I’m here with Rose Wassermann from the USA, and Rose has had beautiful results from Flourish, and I’m so excited to be able to dive into a little bit about her creative story, and hear about the results that she’s had. Thank you Rose, for being here. I’m delighted to introduce you to everyone.
Rose: I’m so happy to be here.
Nicola: So, I wonder if you could kick off a little bit by sharing who you are, where you’re from and what you do?
Rose: Yeah, absolutely. I am from Maryland, like you said in the USA, and my background is early childhood education, and somehow I landed in that client relations and contract negotiations. That’s pretty much what I do on a day-to-day basis, and it’s tied to early childhood, but that’s what I work on. I put out fires and negotiate language a lot at the time, so it’s very far away from anything that I get to do in Flourish, which is so nice.
Nicola: It’s very different. So, why were you attracted to Flourish and what drew you to the program?
Rose: I have to say that what drew me to the program, I was down one of those rabbit holes in the internet and came upon you, which was so awesome. Then I read your website, and then some blogs, and I just really connected with your approach.
Rose: Then from there, I actually … you had this free course that I saw you just … maybe you’d done before, and I took the 10 day free course. The first day was all about gathering materials, and what you need, and not getting too much, and I thought, “Oh, it’s just so practical. I love that. She’s not saying you need all of these things.” Like when you look at a recipe and you think, “I don’t even know where to get half of the things on the list.”
Rose: You made it all so easy, and doable, and not intimidating, that I was already feeling like, “Oh my goodness, I feel good about it,” but by the second day I thought, “Oh my goodness, I was painting …” And on the second day of it, and I actually finished something I felt really, really good about. I couldn’t believe it, because I just don’t feel like a creative … I haven’t felt like a creative person. I felt like that’s a skill I don’t really have, and it’s something that some people have and some people don’t have, and I just didn’t have it.
Rose: I was hooked after that, and then when Forest came along, I thought, “I’ve got to do it. I can’t wait to do it, actually.”
Nicola: I was so thrilled when you shared that on a call with the group of us, that before the course that you hadn’t thought of yourself as creative, and then all of a sudden it changed the way that you thought of yourself. It made my heart so happy, because that’s a huge driving force of why I love to do the work that I do. Thank you for sharing that Rose, it means so much to me.
Rose: Yeah, of course.
Nicola: Before you joined, what was happening in your creative life? If you weren’t thinking of yourself as creative, was there anything that you identified as creative going on before you joined the program?
Rose: So the quick answer, it seemed like it was pretty zero, nothing. I tried jewelry making in the past, I tried sewing. Cooking is always something that I get to do anyway, because you have to do that. A lot of the things … and photography I tried, and quite a bit of it with the sewing and the photography, specifically jewelry making. I kind of felt like it was more rote, and I thought, “Okay, I can do this,” but I didn’t feel that sense of being able to have this outlet of creativity.
Rose: Then with the sewing and the photography, I felt like I had to put a lot of educating myself into it to understand shutter speeds, and all these different things that were a little bit overwhelming, and just … I didn’t connect with, I didn’t get a great sense of feeling just relaxed, and enjoying this flow of creativity through any of those processes.
Rose: So I didn’t have it, and I didn’t have anything like that, and it was … I think I mentioned on another call that I dreaded that question of, “What do you like to do in your time when you’re not working?” Other than being with family and friends, I didn’t have a creative outlet, and I was concerned almost that I couldn’t find one.
Nicola: Yeah. Yeah. That’s so interesting. After Flourish, what do you say now if somebody asks you that?
Rose: I say that I’ve found a love for painting and I have this creative side to me that I didn’t know existed. Every time I get to put any of that in practice or put my paintbrush on the canvas, I’m so excited to see the results, no matter what it is.
Rose: It’s just exciting, and it’s something I’m really proud of in a lot of ways, but also just excited about. I actually enjoy talking about it, and I’ve been able to share that interest with other people, and it’s been interesting conversations have come out of it, and other people’s creative explorations that I kind of avoided that conversation altogether before.
Nicola: Let’s skip this part of the small talk and just jump into the weather, or yeah.
Rose: That’s right, that’s right. Yeah, I just feel like I have this different perspective now. I have this peaceful perspective of really knowing what it’s like to find something where you really, truly are present in the moment. I think I used to hear that a lot about being present in the moment and how important it is.
Rose: I think I’m right here, but I’d be thinking about a lot of other things, but with painting, and creativity, and the way you’ve approached Flourish, I literally, when I am focused on what we’re talking through, or any creative project that you’ve led us through, I am completely focused on that, and not thinking about one other thing. It is just pure enjoyment, and pleasure, and peacefulness. I love it.
Nicola: Wow, that’s amazing. It’s almost like a practical form of meditation when you get yourself into that flow and that process. That’s fantastic. Yeah.
Rose: Yes, [inaudible 00:06:22].
Nicola: I love it. When you were looking to join Flourish, did you have anything that came up for you that felt perhaps a little bit you were nervous about, or hesitations before you joined the program?
Rose: I think one of them was just thinking that I’m not anyone who considered themselves, first of all, I wasn’t considering myself creative, let alone an artist or anyone who was pursuing this to become an artist, or to have work that I would show to others or showcase.
Rose: I thought, “Am I going to be able to keep up, and also be able to, knowing there was a community, really be able to give anything back to that community if it’s full of maybe folks that really are pursuing this and are artists already?”
Rose: And of course, that was not the case at all. It’s just such a supportive group of people that are part of Flourish, but I think that’s because of you, and you draw in that kind of just genuine, peaceful energy and acceptance, and just doing what lights you up, and it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. That really resonates throughout the whole group.
Nicola: It’s a beautiful community, isn’t it?
Rose: It is.
Nicola: I always love, love the women and the people that join. It’s amazing, yeah. It’s like making new friends.
Rose: Yes, yes.
Nicola: Some people might be thinking, “Well sure, I’m going to join up a painting course, but how long is it going to take before I start to see some results and feel good about what I’m making?” How long did it take you to see some results?
Rose: I mean, in Flourish, it was pretty much right away, because even in the first module, it’s talking about things that … practical ways of setting up your studio, thinking about supplies again, just like in the free course, it was the same thing, but obviously at a much larger level, because we’re driving into Flourish.
Rose: Even with that, the inspirational activities of how to get started, and giving yourself kind of a place to put down your creative thoughts, and being free to just create what that beginning will even look like for you, and setting yourself up for something that’s going to be really easy for you to access all the time.
Rose: I love how practical your advice is, all the tips that you’ve given right from the get go, I think just make … that made me feel very comfortable. I took this with a friend who felt the same way, and we’re very personalities. It really sets you at ease, like, “This is totally doable.”
Nicola: Yeah. Great. It’s important to me to make it so that it is practical, because I’m a very practical person. I know that creativity can easily be pushed aside for other more pressing and urgent things, so we have to make it as easy as possible to nurture that side of ourselves. Yeah, thank you for sharing that.
Rose: Yeah.
Nicola: What kind of results did you see from the program, whether they were in your painting and creative life, or perhaps in mindsets and different approaches and attitudes towards creativity?
Rose: I see creativity is so important and I think about how much I wanted to find something and thought I really should find something. I really hope that everyone finds something. It’s just such a gift to have had this opportunity to be a part of Flourish and that community that still remains, and I still get to be a part of, which is so wonderful, because it does give me a different perspective.
Rose: I find myself trying to carve out time for creative time, and for painting, and really having that sanctuary of creativity is really important to me now. I didn’t carve out time for things like that in the past. I think that that’s a big part of it. I would say just overall perspective, and I feel it’s made me more positive, and just more of a little bit more balanced.
Rose: I mean, I know that sounds like a lot, but it does, it makes me feel … it just gives me a different perspective, and feel more balanced, because I have something that I can go to as a creative outlet that I didn’t before.
Nicola: So instead of … you go.
Rose: I was going to say it’s different than other things, like even gardening and things that I’ve done as well. It’s the different experience in the end, and it’s just really connected with my soul. It gives me joy.
Nicola: Yeah, that’s beautiful. Oh, see, you’re a painter at heart.
Rose: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Nicola: What would you say were some of your biggest takeaways from Flourish?
Rose: I would say that anyone can do Flourish, and I think that my biggest takeaways have been just play. You constantly say, “Just have a play, and do what lights you up.” I literally say that, think that to myself a lot.
Rose: I think that just finding ways to get yourself, number one, in front of your creative thing. I keep saying painting, or your canvas, but I know there’s other creative approaches that you guide us through through Flourish as well. Painting seems to be the one that I’m drawn to the most.
Rose: For me, I think just some of the, again, the tips that you’ve given about one of the modules where you talk about just how to get paint on the canvas, how to get started, and all of these creative ways to get started either finger painting, all the different ideas that you have. it’s so helpful, because you say it over and over again that it doesn’t matter, it’s what lights you up.
Rose: It’s not about, it has to look like this, this has to be this end image, which I think is part of what can be intimidating, is even on your own, thinking that, “Am I going to end up with anything I’m going to love?” If you love the process, you really actually do end up with things that you really enjoy looking at, and you’re proud of, which is ironic.
Nicola: It is, isn’t it? That comes back to that presence as well, because while you’re there present in that moment with what you’re doing, then you’re actually paying attention to what you like and what you don’t like, instead of rushing and thinking, “I have to get to the end result and the outcome,” and then you end up with something that you don’t like. You can actually kind of be taking intuitive course corrective actions throughout the making process.
Rose: Yeah, yeah, and you can paint over it, which you’ve said [crosstalk 00:12:56].
Nicola: You can paint over it. Yeah, totally. Yes.
Rose: Which is great.
Nicola: If you could go back to yourself before you signed up, knowing what you know now, what’s your wish that you had have known then that you know now?
Rose: How much it would positively change things for me, not just creatively, but overall. I would just say that it’s just given me more different ways to connect with folks. I mean, I think that, like I said, taking it with my dearest friend was an amazing thing. To see her, she’s really an artist. I mean, she’s amazing.
Rose: I am amazing in my own way too, but it’s just so great to see that. But also, I was able to share it with my niece, and who is nine, and she loved it, and we’ve painted together several times. I set up a little studio for her, and who would’ve ever thought that that would have come out of it?
Rose: It’s just this really amazing thing to have. I’ve had her watch a couple videos, because she’s been a little intimidated, so she’s watched them with me. We’ve painted together, so it’s been amazing to share that with others.
Rose: I just would say don’t … I hate to say don’t overthink it, because people have said that to me. I think, “Well, I’m pretty good at overthinking things, so that’s hard for me to do,” but I would say don’t overthink it. If you feel like it’s right for you, dive in, because you will not regret it, and you will regret not doing it.
Nicola: I love hearing that you have done that with your niece. Yeah, it just makes me so happy.
Rose: Right.
Nicola: That’s awesome. I mean, you’ve sort of said it there, but what would you say to somebody who’s considering signing up?
Rose: You will find like-minded people that are just thinking the same way you are, all the questions and doubts that you might have in your head. “Should I do this? Should I invest in it? Will I have the time?” You will. I’m telling you, you’ll never regret it.
Rose: If you’re in my shoes now, you’d realize that you’d regret not, because if I hadn’t done this, I wouldn’t even know that this existed, this was a possibility for me. And you always have it. I find myself … People, when I’ve mentioned the Flourish program to folks are like, “God, it must be so hard. You’re not actually painting with an instructor there, and you’re not in a studio with others. Isn’t that odd?”
Rose: It’s actually wonderful, because I can access it whenever I’d like, 24 hours a day. If I’m up really early on a Sunday, or just an odd time and I want to paint, I just turn on a module, and I sit with you, and I’m like, “Oh, I didn’t get that point the first time. I want to try that,” and I can go back and look at it again.
Rose: I can’t tell you how helpful that’s been to me. And you’re always around to be a guide and a coach whenever I need it. I love that.
Nicola: That’s beautiful, yeah. Sometimes you actually get a better view, because when you’re at a workshop, it’s often quite difficult to crowd around and to see exactly what somebody’s doing on a table and things, so you get a beautiful overhead view, and you can follow along with a great perspective. They are useful. There’s obviously pros and cons with in person and video-based stuff, but being able to re-watch stuff, the modules, is really fantastic, and yeah, the point of view.
Nicola: So thank you. Thank you so much, Rose. I think you’ve pulled out so many really beautiful benefits that even I hadn’t thought of. I really appreciate you taking the time, and everyone who’s watching, how beautiful is Rose? Thank you so much. I’m sure … she’s incredible, and I look forward to spending more time with you inside Flourish in the years to come.
Rose: I can’t wait. I hope to meet everyone. I can’t wait.
Nicola: Yay.