To Everything There Is A Season
How my art and words reflect where I am in life
In all the writing and art projects I have done over the years, the main thing they all have in common is that they have been a reflection of where I was at that time.Every lesson that needed to be learned, recognised or lived, all have their respective books or paintings that share the highlights of that entire journey. There were ideas for books that had sat with me for the longest time, but I was unable to write them. I never knew why I was so blocked until after I had either completed the book, or had a new zeal to start writing them again. Then I realised the answer was that I didn’t know enough about the subject to even begin to write about it. For example, my third book in the Open Up Before I Self Destruct prose poetry series, couldn’t even get passed the halfway point until my mind and heart were both ready to actually learn what it was I needed to learn about it. I couldn’t even write the second book which was on the topic of loss until I felt that it was time and that I could actually move on from the hurt I had experienced. I know for a fact that this is the main reason why my novel has taken so long to get to the point where it is right now. This is because the topic was something I had been avoiding in my own personal life to a degree. It’s only now that I’ve begun to work through it in my own life that the project has been able to move to the next stage to where it can now be completed. I feel so much gratitude and relief for that!
I say all this as a reminder to myself and all creatives that the process is the most important part of any creative endeavour. It can’t be rushed just to get your final project out there.
If you’re going to put out rushed projects into the world when you haven’t learned what that project was trying to teach you in the first place, then you’ve essentially handed out a half finished project. I daresay I’ve released some unfinished pieces in my life and have since decided to hide them from the public and keep them archived. They’re not the message that I want to be sending out. I also believe those who saw them also recognised that they weren’t complete - whether they knew how to articulate that or not, they definitely felt it.
Learn to enjoy the process. Enjoy each stage of life and each season you enter.
The more you learn, the more you will be able to share. The more you overcome, the more breakthroughs; you will be able to encourage others that their breakthrough is coming too! Yes, art and words are that powerful!
I’m currently coming out of my next season and getting ready to share more of the projects that came out of that. I’m looking forward to what’s coming next.
What season are you in right now or phasing out of?
✨ Nadine