As nature begins to seep down into slumber, somehow I believe creatives, wonderers, and dreamers began to burst in bloom as the season crinkles in on itself and leaves fall. Autumn beckons us to cultivate and rest, to wait and endure, to reflect yet grow, to take joy and learn gratitude, to be aware and to be expectant.
For when the first brush of cool frigid air swipes our cheek, something snaps alive, parts of us that may have been dormant. Maybe not for all, but for a few; I know we feel the same way. Soft trickles of music swell and cardigans and blankets can now be rushed upon our lives to hold the warmth, to let us simmer.
This year, fall's beginning has been one of awe as so many things around me have come to fruition, things that have dropped close like the boughes of a willow. It's also become days of goals and opening my writer/reader heart to determination as the weather beckons melancholy walks and window dreaming in warmth. Yet, some days and moments have become ones where I have to trust God and pray for Him to help my attitude, grit, worry, and the way knowledge of opinions and words have hit me certain ways.
Needless to say, I welcome autumn with wide arms as the season of creatives, of writers; it's underlined with reflection and the sleeping of the earth.
A Substack post from George Saunders flew across my email this morning that spoke to this element of reflection and patience in our writing. He went on to quote a question that was asked of him, more a story that was told; a story asking the 'what-if' of writing and wondering if being stuck in feeling a way about your story is forever. George went on to address that we all may read something we wrote and feel a way about it; we may need to let our own lives grow and then reread it to realize it's beautiful or it's bad.
The key take away for me was everything has to rest and grow. We have to reflect as creatives. We must reflect and have patience with ourselves.
But we must always keep the grit of determination; we can never be knocked down and forget writing is like a tree in fall.
It grows, some things fall, we offer shade to some, while others give to us. Writing is as autumn, for writing - creating - is never about perfection, but reflection. A reflection of our values, a growth in ourselves, and a strain to know when to wait and when to act for our arts purpose.
Those who love autumn love it for the inner warmth, the beauty, the change, the kiss of patience, the flurry of death and growth God shows in nature. These early days of the season, I have been contemplating just what George wrote about in his letter. There is a constant fear to leave a project, to read a finished one that may be ugly, to worry over fruition of dreams, and question the worthiness in the moment.
There never will be perfection. There is no moment when one is 'ready' with the manuscript, with the idea, with the realized dream. Every moment of our lives is a decision to do, to decide, to put aside and wait, but always willing to return.
Autumn beckons writers to return to reflection on their beliefs, of the world, of the purpose of their writing and what one considers perfection. Autumn has color and bleakness just as life . . . just as writing. Some days we burn as our fingers itch the keyboard, other days our souls reside in our shoes because our words seem like utter stupidity.
Today when we look out our windows, don't compare your dreams to others, don't beat yourself up over the way you feel over something you created. Do it, press onward and never forget to reflect. Soups are always better when left to simmer within the flavors. Grow in the realization that everything has purpose, even the parts we are unsure of. Just as a pile of dead leaves offers children a hiding space, so the ugly can become beautiful.
In NC, I'm ever grateful for this season and the slide into it because it seems as God knows when I need to allow reflection, to push forward in thought and give it to Him, to not expect perfection from myself, but to rest in Him. Fall reminds writers and creatives that slowing down, or musing over goals is nothing to be feared, but may be nestled into. Be patient and trust that the One writing our life knows just the time and moment; He knows our inclination to perfection, not reflection or growth.
Let autumn settle more fully around you - and in you - this season . . .
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