The thing about knitting is it’s much harder to fear the existential futility of all your actions while you’re doing it.
Like ok, sure, sometimes it’s hard to believe you’ve made any positive impact on the world. But it’s pretty easy to believe you’ve made a sock. Look at it. There it is. Put it on, now your foot’s warm.
Checkmate, nihilism.
I know I just reblogged this, but I thought about something to add: This is true of so many things. Everything we do that’s creative at all is a stand against entropy. . You probably can’t fix the world, but you might be able to mend a sweater, or fix a broken toy, or hell, make your bed. And any creative action is a spark of light against the void. it doesn’t have to be the best thing ever, it can be a doodle on the side of a receipt, it can be a cup of tea – but it’s something done, something made, something fixed. Nothing else in the world may be better form the tiny thing you’ve done, but the tiny thing still exists. There’s a tiny spiral or a little turtle on a receipt. There’s a pair of pants that button. There’s a warm cup of tea to drink, there’s a sock and a warm foot. Our existence is these tiny moments, strung together against the dark of night.
Make something.
When I was in grad school, I took up baking cookies as a way to make friends in the department really quick. A professor told me that during HER PhD she had also taken up baking as a way of keeping sane. A dissertation takes forever to write, you can sit at the computer for hours with no result, and it’s painful to think about. Baking, however! In a few hours you have actual material results. You can touch it, smell it, eat it. Nom.
This is a huge part of why I love weight training AND housecleaning. Quantifiable work, visible result.
I can’t stress enough how cool it is to be a writer/artist! Like sometimes people will say it’s lame or dorky or something but you are taking something that doesn’t exist and making it a reality (in a way), like you’re converting pure imagination into a visible form! Can’t you see how amazing that is? That’s like a superpower! Use your superpower!
Gentle reminder that often creativity decides to hibernate for a bit.
It’s okay. You’re not broken, you’re resting, and much like spring, creativity comes back.
I needed to read this today.
i relate to this on a spiritual level
Writer: [singing a slightly monotonous chant] Come on brain, think of things! Come on brain, think of things! Come on brain, be so smart–
is this lin-manuel miranda
Yes it is