“The shell must break before the bird can fly.” Tennyson
If I say, “Spring is coming” what comes to your mind? Spring cleaning? Airing out the house? Wearing less-restrictive clothing? Flowers? Painted eggs and brightly colored hats? Baby animals and busily buzzing bees?
When springtime comes it is in our nature to feel the need to shed the old, worn and musty for a lighter, fresher experience. All of nature celebrating rebirth and renewal and that special creative life-affirming energy is all around us. This year you may feel these spring-season urges even stronger than usual because this is the year of the rabbit.
According to Chinese astrology Rabbit is all about creativity and self expression. It is said that rabbit years are good years for laying new foundations, bringing dreams out into the open, venturing into new territories and throwing off doubt and inhibitions. This is a good year to brighten up your basket.
Build your foundation. If you are new to the writing game this is a good time to begin creating an online portfolio/website. Don’t worry about not having a logo, clips or even a clear idea of the type of writing you want to do. Just play and let it all develop.
Re-examine where you’ve been. If you’ve been working for awhile, does your professional image still reflect you? We all grow and change. Perhaps you need a makeover.
Explore new territory. Allow yourself to experiment and grow; you never know what you might enjoy or accomplish once you hop out of your burrow! Are you a business writer? Try a short story. Do you write romance? Try a travel piece. Do you rely on photographs? Take a sketching class. Put the writing aside and take a dance class. Plant a garden. Create a compost pile. If it sounds like fun do it! Break out of your old shell and fly!
By Robyn Chausse
Love this! I'm hoping the year of the rabbit will be good to me and a lot of my friends (we all need to fly the coop I think)!
ReplyDeleteWhen you say "spring is coming", I tend to think, "Oh nooooo, that means summer's coming after!" :P
ReplyDeleteHi Cayla,
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to this coming year as well; perhaps we'll all grow out our flight feathers!
Hi Trisha,
ReplyDeleteHa! My thoughts exactly. You wouldn't happen to live in a desert area would you? I'm in AZ--we're already getting into the 80s and by June will be in triple digits (which usually go thru September--yuck!)
When I hear 'springtime's a comin' that's all it takes to inspire me...keep up the good words and the good work!
ReplyDeleteHi Betty,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment!
It's funny--when I see it written like that, "springtime's a comin'", I get a mental image of Uncle Remus walkin' and whistlin'.
☺
I enjoyed this post because it reminded me that at whatever stage of one's career, there is always a new starting point that can be made.
ReplyDeletemasksthebooks,
ReplyDeleteWell said!
What a thoughtful and thought provoking post.
ReplyDelete