I am not feeling very creative today. The cursor blinks at me and I struggle to find words. With the financial pressure of the stay at home orders and the crazy way our world seems to be responding, it all just makes me shut down. I have talked before of how this current environment makes me want to retreat. To turn inwards into my shell and forget about the world outside of my television screen. Yet, I find this is exactly what I don’t need.
Turning inward is a classic move to protect ourselves from external threats. We isolate. We shut down. This has an unintended negative side effect, in that the voices and negativity that we carry with us grow louder. We turn down the volume of our external sources of love, of hope, and validation with only our inner psyche to keep us company. Our emotions run rampant, and suddenly that box of Pop-Tarts seems like a perfectly good dinner. Isolation has a way of increasing our self-doubts, and we become our own worst enemy.
I want to encourage you to take your own creative journeys and explorations.
I am a creative person, one who finds her joy interacting with others and finding inspiration in the world around me. I get excited with the low rumble of an approaching storm. The sunlight as it warms my skin reminds me that each moment is precious. The heat of my breath as I exert myself reminding me that I too am alive. I find wonder in the ever-shifting celluloid landscapes of movies. Joy happens when the rhythms of life sync perfectly with the beat in my headphones. The touch of a companion reminding me to lift my eyes towards the horizon. These are the things that inspire me. These are things that feed my imagination. As I was sitting at my computer wracking my brain about what to write I wonder when was the last time I experienced these things? When was the last time I stopped to feel the patter of raindrops or the soft slumber of the earth beneath my feet? When was the last time I let my mind wander, restrained only by the notes of the song humming between my ears? When was the last time I listened with my heart? Felt the world around me as emotion?
Looking over the past five years of posts, I see patterns. One of which is a May sabbatical. A retreat into my personal world of creativity, one that helps ground me and prepares me for the year to come. Instead of taking a break this year, I would like to try to share this experience with you. Hopefully, by doing this I can encourage you to ready yourself for the coming months when we will be allowed to socialize again and do all the things we once loved along with our friends. I want to encourage you to take your own creative journeys and explorations. An adventure that is both deeply personal and outward-facing. An experience that allows your emotions back in. A moment to inspire us to look towards tomorrow. To encourage us to be there for each other. To have hope again. We can reclaim tomorrow, but first, we have to stop shutting down our feelings and experiences. We have to take ourselves out of isolation and reach out to those around us. Then keep reaching, past your neighbors, past your limitations.
Never give up, keep reaching.