Reason # 53 Visual Aid Series: Creativity and Family Homes

The thing with the Visual Aid series is that it also gives me a chance to tap into and express my creative streak.

To compile the picture below, I had fun with many of my hobbies: my playful spirit, Excel, computing tools, and a few others.

So, without further ado: here is a picture of all the houses I willed into being in this lifetime—imagined as if they were built on a single hilltop. (I’ve included projects like Neustadt and Huis Anet(later Huis Samuel) because I was the instigator behind major revamps for them.)




And now, a final word on playfulness and creativity:

In the rush of adult life—with its endless deadlines, responsibilities, and serious conversations—it’s easy to forget something important: we were all once creative souls (especially as children). Curious, playful, imaginative. We built castles and costumes from cardboard, played with rolls of plastic sheeting (as I’ve told you), and turned discarded items from the "vuilgoedhoop" into magical treasures. We built “houses” from stones on the farm—even if it was just laid-out paths on the ground.

At Naastdrift, our little plaasskool, we occasionally played a game called goudkoors—dividing into teams to hide our “skoolkos” tinfoil wrappings as treasure in the patch of trees behind the schoolyard. This game kept us busy for weeks.

Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, the world told us to grow up and get serious. And while maturity brings wisdom, it should never cost us our sense of wonder, joy, and excitement.

I believe that’s where hobbies, creativity, and playfulness come in.

Hobbies are not just “nice-to-haves.” They are portals to joy, to creativity, and to connecting with ourselves.

Creativity, in all its forms, keeps our inner world alive. It’s not about being “good” at art, music, writing, or knitting. It’s about expression!

When we nurture our hobbies, creativity, and playfulness, we come home to ourselves. We discover not just who we were, but who we still are beneath the layers.

And perhaps, most beautifully, we invite others to do the same.

So, welcome to my world of playfulness.


10 July 2025


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