Bloom
What does bloom mean for me? I love to have flowers in the house, but I have a brown thumb and am totally incapable of growing them for myself. It’s also difficult to keep a plant alive when one is away a lot.
Bloom at the moment also means the blooming of a stain caused by a water leak. Water leaks seem to be a theme of my life at the moment – but after Storm Arwen I think I’m probably not the only one – a lot of damage was done, sadly.
It is somewhat disconcerting when one is concerned about the fabric of a home. It’s right there at the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: in “physiological needs” at the bottom, which includes shelter. Safety and security come next. The idea of Maslow’s hierarchy is that if the needs at the bottom of the pyramid aren’t met then you can’t think about anything higher up. Maslow’s pyramid is, of course, disputed by some. People interpret it in different ways: wifi and power are often added these days. Whatever, a threat to shelter and safety is pretty disconcerting! Thinking of those for whom it is much worse, while reminding me I am still much luckier than most, doesn’t help a lot with the anxiety.
I need to bloom within my current life while planning for myself to bloom in the future. There hasn’t been much blooming going on in the past few years, more a curling up… What can I do that makes me bloom? Volunteering? Joining a writers’ or artists’ group? It has to be a virtual one still, as I’m still too nervous to meet in person. I am in a Zoom writers’ group at the moment run by Anna, with a lovely set of writers.
But still, as a writer I feel I have been blocked for a long time. I couldn’t write from the beginning of the pandemic. My writing now feels stilted and childish. But – to be a writer, one must simply write. So I probably need to revisit creative practices such as freewriting, morning pages, or my friend Krista’s haiku a day (which arose out of a writing workshop I ran). Having something, anything, written in a journal, writing blog posts. So here it is – my attempt to start blooming in winter!
I would love to know about any projects prompting writing or creative response…
And if you want one right now here’s mine:
What would it take to make you bloom?