One Little Word: April

I finally got my fat stack of photos from Snapfish, so now I can get to work on Project Life and finally do this One Little Word exercise from April. I really loved the idea of it–simple but expressive. It’s really easy to add text to photos in Picasa, and, of course, they’ll be printed just as you send them to Snapfish, or anywhere else. As soon as I saw these, I knew a green background would be perfect.

This page came together so organically, with very little planning on my part. I decided which specific things I wanted to use as my “open” examples, and then I found pictures that expressed those things. This is one of my favorites. It’s the library where I did a lot of freelance work this spring. It was a gift that it came my way, and I am so glad that I totally impulsively said, “Yes!” as soon as I found about the opportunity. Sometimes your instinct just knows best. I do my best to remain as open as possible to anything that comes that my way that might be fun or fruitful.

I am always working on a handful of projects at once, but I get so excited to try new things. This year has been a marvelous one for exploring new creative territory. I’ve been painting and cross-stitching and quilting. And I have plans to do a lot more! Creating things somehow soothes my soul. It’s just about my favorite thing to do in the world. This means being open to things I’ve never done before and may not ever do well (which has not always been easy). This means letting go of perfectionism and embracing the messiness and mistakes of the learning process. This means valuing the journey, not the end result. It’s a wonderful way to live.

One rather hilarious thing about me is that I make new schedules for myself all the time. Sometimes I have work on a deadline, sometimes there’s a series of classes I want to attend, and sometimes I just feel stagnant and want to change things up a bit. It helps me so much to just ask myself in the evening if I did what I truly wanted to do during the day. Some things, like oil changes and laundry and dishes, can’t be avoided, but I want to be sure that I am spending my time productively and in ways that energize me. Part of that is an openness to trying things in different ways, shaking things up, and letting go of old ways of doing things. I don’t want to shut any positive thing out of my life, so I strive to stay as open as possible.

Our travels this year have really left me in awe of the world around us, and I don’t ever want to lose that wonder. I don’t want to miss one little beautiful thing around me. But I also don’t want to miss one little thing within me. This year I have been doing a handful of things with our church, which have led to some wonderful friendships and insightful discussions. It’s been so glorious. And I want to remain open to any other opportunities in that line that come up in these next few months. They are so rewarding for me.

I think this last one sums it all up: I am more aware than ever that, despite our myriad circumstances, we do have a lot of agency to choose how we spend our time. I want to be learning and loving and creating and traveling, and I want to be aware of the little things that make life so sweet. I want to be open to any way I can maximize my experience of this beautiful life. I want to live expansively. I want to live joyfully. I want to make whatever choices will lead me in that direction.