Change isn't ours to unravel
The Spring Equinox and accepting the inevitability of change.
Hello, fellow creative friends. Happy belated Spring Equinox!
I love these seasonal moments; I see them as a time to reflect on the past season and make plans for the next quarter. Almost like another, more significant new year.
Much like the new season, it’s been a time of change for us this week. My second son Jake, left us to go travelling. I am both happy he is flying our nest in search of new adventures, but my tear-soaked hanky is filled with memories of the wide-eyed baby he was, which it seems was only a heartbeat ago.
We nurture our kids to be independent humans. We sacrifice ourselves in many ways to do this. Often overlooking our own needs to be at the beck and call of theirs. (I feel this, especially as a long-time frustrated artist who put my creative needs on the back burner for many years.)
One day, your hard work will pay off. They’ll be adult entities who want to separate and tread their life path without you. You’ll become a bystander who enthusiastically cheers them on from the sidelines.
Yes, this is an inevitable change, but not an easy one. Clichéd as this all sounds, when our kids are finally ready to leave, it’s still gut-wrenching.
Yet change isn’t ours to stop and unravel. Change is the sometimes coarse weave that creates the fabric of our lives.
Accepting that some…no…most changes are out of our control makes it feel a little less fraught. That includes our beautiful, funny, at times frustrating, fabulous kids.
Furthermore, my fellow impassioned parents, these kids aren’t ours to keep. And we must move to those sidelines to enable them to flourish in their way - not ours.
The only thing we can control is our reactions; even that is a tenuous statement (hello, mindfulness practice!).
As always, I find solace in my studio, on my walks, and in the artistic endeavours of other, much more articulate people than me. So I leave you with their wisdom as inspiration to see you through another few days.
Much love and stay creative,
Georgie x
💫 Inspiration to Draw On
🤵 Words To Inspire - ‘Dear Husband’ by Jessica Urlichs
As I ponder and reminisce about the last 18 years blessed by having Jake as part of our home life, I see that the future has come for us. As so beautifully put in Jessica Urlichs poem ‘Dear Husband’.
There’s a life in the future with little faces in photo frames instead of before our eyes, and artwork and ABC magnets won’t adorn our fridge…
There’s a dinner table that feels big, we aren’t negotiating bites of vegetables or wiping little hands and mouths. But sometimes there’s a knock on the door & the table is full once more.
Read the full poem on Jessica’s Instagram account.
📚 Book Recommendation - ‘Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age’ by Katherine May
Enchantment by name; enchantment by nature! I’m listening to this captivating audiobook by one of my favourite writers Katherine May. Seriously…I think she has read my mind?
I have lost some fundamental part of my knowing, some elemental human feeling. Without it, the world feels like tap water left overnight, flat and chemical, devoid of life. I am like lightning seeking earth.
Uneasy, I carry the prickle of potential energy in my limbs, ever deferred from the point of contact, the moment of release. Instead, it gathers in me, massing like a storm that never comes.
I lack the language to even describe it, this vast unsettled sense that I am slipping over the glassy surface of things, afraid of what lurks beneath. I need a better way to walk through this life. I want to be enchanted again.
🎨 Get Creative
🎵 Music to Move Your Pencil To
Thank you to my daughter Daisy for introducing me to this beautiful instrumental version of JVKE’s ‘Golden Hour’.
For this short track, I encourage you to take your pen or pencil for a walk across the page without taking it off for the duration of the piece. Go on, lose yourself for a moment ;)
✍️ Journal Prompt - Spring Equinox
The Spring Equinox, as well as the new moon last week, offer up the perfect time to reflect. Pick up your pen and write a reflection:
What has gone well for you this past season?
What is your intention for this new season?
💬 And Finally…A Quote to Live By
It's the beauty within us that makes it possible for us to recognize the beauty around us. The question is not what you look at, but what you see.
- Henry David Thoreau, Poet and Philosopher.
Thanks for reading. For more, I draw botanical-inspired illustrations and keep a library of creative exercises for you to try instead of scrolling on your phone.
If you enjoyed this and know someone who might appreciate it, consider sharing :)
Yes, I feel this deeply. I was never good with change. Always fighting and wishing it didn't happen...whatever "it" was.
I'm better at accepting and appreciating it now...watching and enjoying the ride. Thank you for sharing your experience. ❤️