A Fresh (Fruity) Start

I’ve been having a deep ponder, as one tends to do at the start of a new year, although this is a year round activity for me and boy do I go deep! Just like snorkelling, the sea seems vast but empty from the surface, but once you’re under there’s so much to discover and you can stay there as long a you like, following a bright school of fish here, examining the corals textures and colours. If you’re lucky when you come up for air, you’ve learnt something new- you’ve changed a little. 

This is how I create, how I conjure up a collection, gathering all the thoughts and feelings that are dancing about this whimsical world inside my head, and let my hands weave them into something real and beautiful I can share.

Sometimes this happens with not much conscious thought at all, it flows and I’m left with a collection that’s light and feels easy- I’m creating and learning the message at the same time.  Other times (like this time) it’s almost happening at once, but somehow separately…

A feeling pops I jot it down, I journal, I cut and paste and collage. At the same time I’ll be drawn to shapes, colours and patterns so I’m snipping, painting and crafting the leather. Then suddenly like magic, there it is, the two pieces of the puzzle come together and I can see the whole picture!

 And that (I hope) give a bit of insight to how deep a dive this ponder has been! It all started with what I adore most about the New Year, that feeling that everything is off to a brand new start...

Anything is possible come the first of January.

It’s quite incredible isn’t it, the way we can somehow have all the answers and motivation to do all these things that we never could before. That’s the power of the New Year, of the great New Year Resolution…or is?  And does it have to be? Because I’d sure like to harness some of that fresh start feeling all the year through!  

To be honest I think New Year Resolutions are about as finicky as a party popper, so exciting and starts with a bang, but you quickly realise there’s a bunch of tiny pieces to it and it’s really a whole lot of work.  So how do we separate New Years Resolutions, from the New Year Fresh Start Feeling? 

New Years Resolutions aren’t even really goals are they? I hate to go all 90’s motivational speaker right now but they’re certainly not “SMART” which according to every PD course ever to exist is the cornerstone of successfully achieving any goal. 

S Specific

M Measurable

A Achievable

R Realistic

T Timely

Rarely does a New Years Resolution fit into that criteria, hence why by mid February, they’re out the window!

But, to be quite frank, the New Year Fresh Start Feeling really doesn’t have any sort of gusto to it at all, it’s light, glossy, bright and beautiful.  To be pulling it apart to make it a real tangible action…that’s overwhelming and can rip the shine right off it.  

But I want to keep that glossy, bright, beautiful feeling alive!

Surely there must be a way without SMART-ing the heck out of it?

And what if what you’re chasing isn’t specific at all, what if it’s big and broad and just a feeling?

What if it’s generally feeling happier, fresher, brighter?

You couldn’t SMART that if you wanted to!

I found a poem I adore…it captures exactly what I want to hold onto.

The Orange

At lunchtime I bought a huge orange

The size of it made us all laugh.

I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave

They got quarters and I had a half.

And that orange, it made me so happy,

As ordinary things often do.

Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park.

This peace and contentment. It’s new.

The rest of the day was quite easy.

I did all the jobs on my list

And enjoyed them and had some time over.

I love you. I’m glad I exist.

• Wendy Cope

You see, I don’t want a New Years Resolution, a SMART goal or anything else.

I just want ordinary orangey happiness, a burst of dopamine and vitamin C!