Starting over as an artist
An artist who creates inspiring images is Alex Florschutz, who herself has started over as a single woman with a young son and is now establishing herself as a talented artist, and also qualified as an art psychotherapist.Take at look at some of Alex’s fascinating images at www.florschutz.com,
Alexandra Florschutz - rebirth through art
Once upon a time, in 1998, I fulfilled my dream of living as an artist on the beautiful island of Bali. My love affair with the culture and people extended to one particular man who I married in a lavish Balinese ceremony. Very soon I became pregnant and enjoyed the positive atmosphere that surrounded my maternal bliss. My relationship, however, had to cope with some distinct cultural differences and stress provoked me to rethink my situation and return to England with my husband so he could experience the other side of the cultural coin.
Our son was born in January 2000 which was an immense joy but the emotional cracks between me and his father continued to widen. By November I realised that I was in serious trouble of loosing my sense of self completely and very exhausted had to leave the domestically violent marriage. I felt immense guilt at making my husband fend for himself in a foreign land, despite his behaviour and that I had lost the ideal of the potential happy marriage. The humiliation I experienced from people who thought I had made a huge mistake when I married him was excruciating and the silent ‘I told you so’ pierced me to the core. No one could ever imagine the most amazing time I had ever had in my whole life and that he was an extension of that joy! All I can say is that, since then, it has been a rollercoaster ride of very difficult, traumatic and painful obstacles to overcome but I don’t think I would change it for any other experience. Why? Because what I have learnt is invaluable.
My sanity was restored by painting and having therapy as and when I could afford it. I worked towards inviting very supportive people into my life who understood the process of post relationship recovery in a non judgemental way. The source process and breath work therapy I trained in enabled me to understand my core belief system and raise me out of the victim role into a person who could live in Choice. It is not an easy road, re wiring the self, but it certainly helps one to jump off the merry go round of perpetuating ones old patterns and to learn to make new decisions despite what life throws at one.
I have been on an amazing journey of self discovery through many workshops, my trainings in Rebirthing and a 3 year Masters in Art Psychotherapy and now finally starting my long awaited business called The Art of Birth. As soon as I went to Bali and had conceived my child, I knew it was for a deeper meaning than I could ever understand. It changed my life, as I knew from that moment I was committed to the area of art, birth and self development. It’s taken almost a decade to really formulate but I am now ready to see clients and support their emotional journeys through pregnancy, birth and beyond – not because I know it all but because I have had so many experiences and through my continual integration of my own process, I am now able to give back something back and support others (as well as receiving support for myself).
Share your own starting over story: email us here
