Welcome, 2021! Even though you started off rocky, I have high hopes for you. There has been a lot of chaos and downright destruction in 2020 yet I sense the light trying to break through us all as we figure out new ways to be in our world.

I took some time away from my blog so as to fall into a rhythm of my new job and to focus more on my second novel (I’m getting ready to write chapter 9! And I am in love with this story and how it is all unfolding). Time to get back into some blog posts and discuss more about the creative process. In last year’s posts, I deliberately attempted to address all the things that block my creativity at times, from perfectionism to other people’s negativity, and through my sharing of my posts and thoughts, I garnered a lot of strength and insight on how to let my intuition and innate creativity guide me through challenging experiences.

Remember when the pandemic hit and we all started out kinda scared yet excited to drop into a natural rhythm we hadn’t experienced collectively before all while binge watching “Tiger King”? We told ourselves “Now I have time to finally do that creative project I’ve been wanting to try.” And many of us learned how to make a sourdough starter and others of us took up knitting. Some people wrote poetry or used their social media to creatively read a poem a day and share with friends and family. And others of us took time to cook and make charcuterie boards with cheeses and meats we bought at Aldis and drank that $3 bottle of wine with gusto. Then after a few months, we arrived at peak points of coming face to face with systemic racism and chose to read hard books and watch difficult documentaries and teach ourselves about things we thought we already knew about, but really didn’t if we were being honest with ourselves. Weeks eroded into months and we found ourselves dealing with violence and insurrection before dipping into depression over a pandemic gone haywire. And now we find ourselves rallying once again after a peaceful transfer of power on January 20th to feeling like we can exhale a bit more when watching “Bridgerton” or “All Creatures Great and Small” and we feel the urge to pick up a new hobby again while we wait for our vaccines.

I don’t know about you, but I am tired. So tired that I don’t always know what to do with myself, except that I know I have to keep creating when the energy is there. It has been a nice hiatus from writing blog posts and writing chapters and editing my rough drafts. And as I dipped into cooking new meals I found in cookbooks I checked out from the library and began a painting project on an old canvas I had sitting around, I returned to the quote by Johan Wolfgang von Goethe that is written on one of our refrigerator magnets. It reads “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, BEGIN IT. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”

I love this quote so much. Whenever I think about it, I feel emboldened to attempt something new that has been swirling around in my brain. I don’t always have to share it with anyone, and I really don’t worry if it will turn out great. I just feel enlivened to even have the creative urge in the first place. And when I do begin that project, I feel the release of all that pent up boredom, anger, anxiety, and confusion over all that has happened to us in the course of one year. As I delve fully into my creative projects (which again, range from buying, repotting, and arranging houseplants, writing a 500 word scene, to boldly making shrimp and grits Southern style), I feel the chaos melt away and my life opens up and I am actively doing something to better my little part of the world. That has to count for something. And imagine if we all decided to simply BEGIN whatever we dream we can do? How much more genius, power, and magic we would be releasing into our world? Chaos and destruction would have to get out of our way so we could bring forth new things out of the rubble of what we have left behind or what has been taken away.

So, my friends, let’s challenge ourselves to BEGIN. Begin to trust your intuition. Begin to trust your creativity. Begin a new project, no matter how big or small. Begin. Your boldness to be you and do the things that make you happy can change your part of the world. That has to count for something.