The world needs you

 

I've been teaching a writing workshop via Zoom for the Spencertown Academy Arts Center. I have fifteen wonderful students in my class. Each week, I am honored and humbled to bear witness to their stories.

And truly, the stories produced in this class have been mesmerizing.

There is so much talent! And yet, I sense a certain shyness, a hesitancy. They struggle with that relentless inner critique asking, who do you think you are?

We all have this voice somewhere in our head. It could be coming from someone in our past, or from some perceived failure, or even the fear of failure. It could even come from the fear of success. I published something, but now what?  I tell my students that the world needs them. If only the very, very confident share their work with the world, the world will not hear the voices of the sensitive and shy, the ones least likely to boast. And that would be a terrible loss.

The world needs you. Please, don't be selfish. Please share the beauty and magic of your voice, your creativity, your unique style. Oh, and the secret advantage of all this sharing? Every time you share, every time you empty the creative well, it gets refilled to overflowing. And your fearlessness will encourage others to create. You are emboldening all those quiet types, the ones who were never the first to raise their hands or step to the front of the class. You are encouraging the disenfranchised, the lost souls, the forgotten ones, the little dandelions that grow up amongst the green-green grass and between the sidewalk cracks.  Your creative assignment for the week is to be brave and share something you've written or drawn or quilted or collaged or played on the guitar. See what unfolds for you and how your art lifts us up. And have fun! Love, Jamie

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