My 2021 Story

For the last week, I participated in a writing workshop called Write Your New Story 2021 hosted by Sheri Salata (author, podcaster, and Oprah's former executive producer). The workshop was held online. We had a daily syllabus, a daily live talk with guests where participants could ask questions (I watched the recorded version), and some homework. Participants met in a private Facebook group where we were encouraged to share our homework and photographs. 

The stories that emerged from participants all over the world blew me away. There we shared our "what was 2020 to you" stories, our "what's your life like right now" stories, our shame stories that keep us frozen, holding us back from moving forward in critical segments of our lives. We shared our hopes, we shared the names of the people who love us that we can count on, and we shared the words we plan to use every day to formulate a new story for ourselves in the coming year. We learned the concept of wabi sabi: perfectly imperfect. Then we imagined how we can wabi sabi our life -- how we can take the hard parts and make them beautiful. We wrote about the points in our lives where we ran up against a big NO, that stopped us in our tracks and made us change course.

I think I put in about four hours per day on this workshop. It was well worth it.

Our final assignment was to write our new story for 2021. What is our next right dream? Incorporating the 10 words we chose earlier in the week, we were instructed to write a short story to describe our lives in 2021. Then we were to put  up a photo of ourselves at our "sassy" best.

While writing, I figured I'd share my Day 5 story with the other workshop participants, but otherwise keep it to myself. However, some of my words for this class were courageous, brave, and confidence. With that in mind, I've decided to share my 2021 story here. After all, personal writing can be counted as one of my my 21 Goals in 2021 ... try 21 new artforms.

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Sassy!

For 2021, I don’t have one next right dream. I never have. I have a lot of curiosity. I’m interested in many, many intellectual endeavors, paths of emotional growth, and artistic activities. My interests change with the seasons and chapters of my life. But I don’t have one big passion, one next right dream. I’ve searched. I’ve prayed. I’ve read. I’ve followed thought leaders. When I’m told to “follow my passion” or my “one next right dream,” I end up feeling like a failure. Failing at life because I’m 63 and still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. That’s a fractured place in my life. 

So how do I wabi sabi this?

Elizabeth Gilbert says, some of us are hummingbirds. We follow our curiosity. We flit from bud to bud, tasting the nectar, helping to pollinate flowers that will grow into fruit. So that’s what I do. I follow my curiosity. I flit from artform to artform. I don’t worry about selling any of it. I’m not about producing and inventory and marketing and selling and business. I’m about creating and being in flow in the midst of my activity.

Here’s my wabi sabi plan:

Keep doing what I’ve been doing for over 15 years. I already publish daily on my blog, shining a light on these flowers in my life. My blog, Studio Window, is chalk full of words and images of the places curiosity has taken me. All the little broken places that, when a light or a macro lens focuses on them, reveal their beauty. Sometimes it’s ugly-pretty. Many times it’s mundane. Occasionally I get brave and reveal some of the secrets of my soul.

My 2021 story is that I don’t need one specific purpose. I need to confidently and bravely explore my community, to figure out the logistics when they trip me up, to gradually make connections and friendships. I plan to shine a light on that which lights me up. Yesterday I started a second blog (it’s not live yet). My plan is to shine a light on, and take photographs of, the enchanting things I see in my new community. My charmed, wonky story, told through images.

That new start is enough for now.