In my dad’s final months of life, he knew he was dying. After two unsuccessful stem cell transplants, the multiple myeloma was beyond a cure. And even so, he told us, “I need hope, and I need projects.”
We are in the doldrums of winter, the post-Christmas, post-Hanukkah, post-Valentines day rut. The big box stores have moved on from winter-themed candy and snowman decor. They’ve already launched ahead to spring. But we are not there yet.
Here in Minnesota we have a thin dusting of snow. Enough to look pretty, but hardly enough to play outside, and certainly not enough for a snowman. My three-year old has been wanting to build a snowman since the first snowflake in November. He’s still waiting.
Late February is about as bleak as it gets. As we look ahead to the remaining six weeks of winter, according to Punxsutawney Phil, we need something to carry us through.
Back to my dad’s mantra: we need hope and we need projects.
We need hope that winter will end, that the warm sun and the earthy smell of spring will return, that our gardens will be planted and baseball season will start. Hope that we can get past this season of isolation and unite with our communities and neighbors again.
And we need projects.
Take this as your invitation to create something. To make something. To do something. Start an obscure hobby, grow a plant on your sunny kitchen windowsill, learn a new instrument, rekindle your interest in embroidery. Join a group of like-minded people doing something to better your community. Go to your first yoga class. Attend a book club meeting, even if you haven’t read the whole book.
Start a project for the sake of creating. As Georgia O’Keeffe says, “Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing.”
Here at Creative Fold, we value creativity in all forms. We love being involved in the creative process, both in the more traditional understanding of creativity like product artwork, and in the more unknown realm of creative problem solving. We hold fast to the assertion of the great Maya Angelou, “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
So go do something.