Reflections on Bloom Where You Are Rooted

I originally wrote this blog post and titled it "What I would Tell My Younger Self (and now my college daughter)" as an encouragement to bloom where you are rooted with your God given talents and know your worth.  However, reading it several years later (and now several years older) one sentence jumped off the page; "when subtraction math is the new game, a sense of authenticity and urgency arises . . . "

After recently losing one of my parents and my first born soon turning 30, I've found it fascinating how the brain changes your perception of life as you grow older.   It's as if someone replaced your life glasses and you are now wearing a different lens.  Your mind shifts less from worry about what others might think of your creative work to how quickly can I get this body of work completed before time runs out or I no longer have use of my hands in the same way.  

I share in my blog, The Process of Encaustic Painting, how I develop my pigment and wax pieces.  However, part of that back story is that I took my first painting class decades ago and always knew this style of art was buried somewhere within me.   Why I didn't take the leap before seems unexplainable now ~ time constraints, fear of failure, busy with life ~ pick any of them. 

What I know is God plants seed in all of us and we each are given different talents.   They may not be talents that monetize or allow you to quit your day job.  But, they are talents that allow us to create a patchwork of the beauty of what humanity can create.   Writing a book, painting from your artistic voice and share it for others to enjoy, volunteering to build a new home after the NC hurricane.  All of these creations with our hands started from seeds and are intended to be watered and fertilized. 

Like I told my daughter in the original blog, "bloom where you are rooted", develop your seeds, and contribute those to the world.  The subtraction game is real.  For all of us.   

I feel with each passing decade, there is a freedom.  The white knuckles of control seem to release slowly, as we discover a tighter grip doesn't result in change.  What we once valued in our looks, the scale, or self imposed expectations, and even those "dreams" don't hold quite as much weight. 

When you are counting forward, time seems endless.  However, when subtraction math is the new game, a sense of authenticity and urgency arises as we understand it's time to "bloom where we are rooted".  A rooted woman is one who realizes the ground on which she already stands, not looking to other soil for cultivation.  

Knowing without a doubt she has become the woman she was intended to be. 

Comparisons, doubts, and insecurities that were once self-imposed chains are replaced with a non-apologetic spirit of exploration and discovery.  This is not the time to slow down.  It is the time to engage your body, mind, and most importantly your spirit with an appreciation for every minute.