“This is the real secret of life—to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.” Alan W. Watts.
I had a good think about things I enjoyed as a child today. They (whoever they are) say you should go back to your childhood and think about what you enjoyed playing to help you figure out what you should pursue as an adult.
I have fond memories of making worm farms with my sister Jen and filling our little wheelbarrow with worms and dirt, but aside from that almost all my memories involve art, fashion or something creative. I remember one time having a whole box of hats in the house. I have no idea where they came from or why we had them, but there was a hat box and about 20 different style hats and I happily spent an afternoon trying them all on in front of a mirror. I remember wishing we could keep them, but I think someone had donated them to charity and my house was just a stopover on the way to somewhere else.
I remember playing with a pile of slats from an old wooden blind and gluing them together with a hot glue gun. I remember the smell of the glue and the feel of the wood. I was so excited that I was going to create something amazing and then I ended up with a hot sticky mess instead. I also remember having a brief obsession with painting designs on wooden spoons. I'm not sure why or whatever happened to them but I still remember what my first design looked like.
I also remember a wall paper sample book that I picked up from somewhere as a child. I still get excited by wallpaper samples, the colours and textures and the possibilities. I have yet to wallpaper a wall but would happily spend an afternoon perusing wallpaper shops. I am currently mourning a box of fabric samples I actually paid for about five years ago from an online company where you can customise your own fabric. I think I may have purged them during my recent clear out in the loft, but the thought of creating a fabric--even though I have no idea how to do that or what I would put on it--excites me and those little swatches of softness brought me great joy.
When Isla started school I remember looking at one school that smelt exactly like my childhood. It was a mixture of glue and paint and I got the same happy tingly feeling in my tummy as an adult as I did as a child. I loved all things art related as a child and I guess I still do. Fabric, colour, texture, paint. The way a room looks and feels has a drastic impact on my mood and in an ideal world, I think I want to do something that involves beautifying the world in some way. My challenge always lies in the desire versus the talent and when you should just do things as a hobby and when they can become a career.
Today's photo is me in a fancy hat thing that actually belongs to my sister Jen who left it at my house after she wore it to a wedding here. I still quite like dressing up in hats. Maybe I'll wear it to my next interview!
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