One of the issues with having so many ways to fritter away one's time is that there is often inconsistency in doing any single thing. I pick up one hobby, do it for awhile, then get distracted with something else. In fact, right now I'm contemplating picking up the violin again, something I haven't done for at least twenty years. Why I feel the urge to play the violin now, I don't know. But that's what I mean. Oftentimes I look at the things that other people do and think that I can do it too. Run a marathon? Sure, why not? Get hundreds of followers on Instagram? How hard can it be? Write an amazing blog? No problem. But when it comes down to it, showing up daily or even regularly is hard work. And from the date of the last entry on this blog (almost two years ago!!), it's something that I haven't been doing. And ironically, one of the things I tell my students is that they don't have to be geniuses if they want to do well, but they do have to show up and do the work.
When I think about beginning again, it feels overwhelming. How do I catch up on two years' worth of memories and ideas? How many things have slipped through the cracks in the meantime? Do I hit the highlights starting from 2013 or just jettison all that and begin again in the present? In some ways, so much has happened in these two years and in other ways, nothing at all has happened. I'm not sure about how to approach things, but I wanted to take inspiration from Goethe's words, which say that "Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth...that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too....Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." I'm just talking about writing a blog right now, but this is true for so many things. Until we commit ourselves fully to something, someone, some place, the hesitancy that exists creates ineffectiveness and stagnation, a feeling of "stuckness" that simply doesn't have to be. Instead, whatever it is we want to do, begin it. Now.
I've just finished reading Ann Patchett's book This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, which is about marriage, yes, but mostly about writing. And one of the tips that she gives on how to write is again both so simple and so hard. She say, "If you want to write and can’t figure out how to do it, try this: Pick an amount of time to sit at your desk every day. Start with twenty minutes, say, and work up as quickly as possible to as much time as you can spare. Do you really want to write? Sit for two hours a day." In other words, show up and do the work. Nothing else. So here I am. And given that spring is the time for all things to begin anew, the timing couldn't be more perfect.
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| Beds prepped to go in March |
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| Future peaches |
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| The three sisters, corn, bean, and squash, ready to play |
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| Figs doing their thing |
