Make something silly.
I look a bit like I was up to trouble…because I kind of was.
When I suggest, “Make something,” it doesn’t need to be anything as time-consuming as a novel.
Sometimes, I make something random, just for fun.
Example: a blue and orange heart out of petals.
In July, I got some roses and hydrangeas from Trader Joe’s and made a bouquet. Sadly, the flowers only lasted a couple days before they started to wilt.
When given a sad story, I figure out a way to transmute it into one I like better. I have turned this into a practice in my life—sometimes it’s a challenge, and sometimes it’s a game.
Wilting flowers became a game. As in, What do I do with THESE?
My friend Angela once told me to return flowers to nature after they’ve been part of your home. There’s a park by my house, attached to an art museum, which has been closed since the pandemic. I thought to myself: are these just wilted flowers? Or are they materials for a completely unsanctioned, 100% biodegradable art installation at the park?
Hence, the blue-and-orange heart. I found a dove feather on the way, picked it up, and hid it under the petals as I worked.
Art doesn’t have to be lofty.
You can make meaning out of anything.
Sometimes, it can just be fun.
It deeply entertained me to do this. It made me happy to think of people wandering the park, coming across the blue and orange heart and wondering at what the hiccups it was doing there. I hoped it entertained them, brought them distraction from their troubles for a moment, maybe even a little peace.
The heart is completely gone now (I’ve checked)—the petals faded, now indistinguishable from the brown leaves fallen from the trees above.
But the story remains. That experience turned into something else I made just for fun.
Flowers that faded too quickly was a sad story, too unremarkable to mention. Then I turned it into one I liked better, one I enjoyed so much that I shared it with you.
Like I said, with turning sad stories into better ones: Sometimes it’s a game. Sometimes it’s a challenge.
But the games give you both the confidence and joy necessary to take on the challenges.
So, again, let yourself make something random, just for fun.
P.S. Did I go back and do it again? Why, yes, I did.
Originally published on Instagram on 3/15/21.
