Big Magic

Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Pray, Love fame wrote this as a kind of homage to creativity. I read it for the second time recently and it spoke to me in such a profound way. For the creative souls like me who have somewhat lost their way in the corporate world, it’s a reminder that there’s something beautiful, even divine, about the gift of creativity. I’ve recently pulled out some old manuscripts and files with stories and poems that I have written over the last thirty years or more. Some are complete, some are not – but all reminded me of that spark, the idea that produced the flame that got me writing.

That is storytelling for me – an ember that keeps burning. Even when I have ignored the impulse for months at a time, years even when little ones were running around. There is an old Jamaican proverb that says “Ol’ fire stick easy fi catch.” Yes – this old fire stick has kept burning inside me. The love of telling stories.

So here I am, a reluctant empty nester and I realize I want to blow on that ember a bit. I want to dust off the old stories and give my imagination free rein to spin and weave some new ones. If Elizabeth Gilbert is right and I’m pretty sure she is, there’s Big Magic to be made. There are lots of stories out there, including really good ones. But nobody else can write my story. My story is mine to share, it’s my unique take on love and friendship and grief and any number of life events I have experienced first-hand or not. And it has value. All our stories have value.

We each have the embryo implanted in us, it may be music, dance, or art; but it can also be managing people, creating content, marketing - there are no rules. It is the thing that we can bring our whole selves to, whether it comes ‘easy’ (but is it though?) or it requires some struggle; it is the place where we feel most whole. So yes, I’m fully embracing the creative in me, and so should you. It’s inside of us - we only have to choose to nurture it then release ourselves to it. And watch the magic happen.