Creative change comes in one of two ways. You can go chasing after it, charging face first into the flames and ready for anything, or it crashes the party, smashing through life as you know it with an invitation to dance.
As an observer kinda gal, I tend to look for quite some time before I leap, feeling into things and turning the tumblers of my mind over all the angles. I can see the promise of creative change waving at me as inspiration; a guide to follow one of many interesting paths to the same place. It’s my groove, and I like it. I feel very comfortable leaving the “how” loose, as long as I’m moving towards a creative change that feels right. I also TRY a lot of paths, which leaves more opportunity for creative change to be thrust upon me when I’m not looking.
In my surprise I can get defensive, frustrated. It feels like a personal invasion, busting through the walls of my snuggly inner peace. The jagged edges can be painful, confusing and intensely sobering in ways I wasn’t ready to see. And at the same time they are the most important things for me to see.
Looking at Creative Change is not the Same as Being Willing to Live It
The mind can’t plan everything and the heart can’t read the future. It’s the moments in between what you want and expect that you meet your jagged edges, the parts that can only become clear when creative change shows up as it pleases. The jagged edges make you feel alive, the creative rush tickling every part of you awake.
There are times when crawling back into the abyss of blissful cluelessness are what I would prefer, but I know better. Every single part of change is what fuels my writing, my creativity. I learn about myself, the patterns I perpetuate, the relationships that need to end and the steps I’m too afraid to take that are ultimately holding me back.
Jagged Edges are Invitations
When I take time to regroup with a willingness to really look at what I know now, I see the jagged edges as invitations instead of chunks of sharp broken glass. I wouldn’t plan for a surprise that caused pain, who would? I just know that without them my life would be pretty predictable, my story, awfully boring.
So today, why not honor the highlights and the canyons of the abyss with the same amount of gratitude? The creative change that transforms you from the inside out wouldn’t be possible if everything always went as expected, or if you knew the end of the movie before you even bought a ticket.
Navigating the jagged edges is how you find out what you truly desire, and that’s worth the scars that stay behind as bittersweet mementos.
Photo credit: Steven DePolo