hola!
I’m not sure about you, but tensions have felt pretty high in my life for the past week. Life in the age of COVID-19 presents many opportunities for stress, especially when families don’t agree with the level of caution that is necessary, especially when your community is becoming more and more inundated with cases. I’ve had to regularly remind myself that I only have control over myself, if even that. It’s a good mantra, and helpful to reflect on, because we’re in such an out-of-control time right now.
I’ve really been coming to terms with the fact that, honestly, we have no control over anything. That’s a hard truth for me to accept, as I tend to be a pretty Type-A personality and one of the ways that I try to manage anxiety in this wild life is pretending that I have control over things. I guess, for the first time, I’ve truly accepted, not just cognitively, but emotionally—in my skin and bones—that I don’t have any control. I’ve been learning to handle the idea that everything can, and has been, changing within days, if not hours.
Have you been dealing with anything similar? If so, you’re not alone. I feel you.
prompt #13:
This prompt is reminiscent of something I would assign in my English classes. Maybe it’s something you have done in a former English class, too. Even if it’s derivative, I think it’s an enjoyable exercise that sparks creativity.
Go to this random color generator website and then click “generate color” to get your random color. Then, set your timer for five minutes and use that time to pontificate on that color. What does it mean to you? Do you have any memories about this color? Bring in those sensory details like you’re trying to round out a 3-page essay!
As always, when you’re done with the five minute write, take a little break and do something nice for yourself. Then, come back to it and reread. See what you like. If you want, keep those parts and turn it into a poem or an essay or a song or something else entirely.
ashley’s piece:
When I was young, I used to think that there were “boy colors” and “girl colors” and that I was limited to the ones for girls.
And it’s true that I loved pink and purple-- the hospital and gem that welcomed me to this world,
but how limiting to hide from the other gorgeous, welcoming shades— the color of life, vibrancy, juice of a garden ready for drinking.
How disappointing to not have fresh grass, dewy under my toes.
How lonely to be sequestered from these colors of nature, earth, warm and tender in her wreath of green.
How strange that I believed the color of our Mother, the womb of life, was not for me.