Remember Show and Tell day at school?
I loved it. Seeing as I had trouble making small talk even way back then, there was nothing more exciting and maybe a bit nerve-wracking, than having permission to bring in and share a piece of me and learn about my friends in the same way. Little hands reached inside windbreaker pockets or the repurposed shoebox previously decorated, now designated, only for Friday’s Show & Tell.
It was the best.
A few weeks ago, I was sitting in my office on a zoom call with a bunch of other writer-friends when the guest speaker prompted:
Tell me about a time when you put yourself out there… put your creativity out there- and you were rejected…
Four hundred minutes went by with no response…
Finally, the chat started blowing up with stuff like: I don’t really have an answer, because I don’t really put my stuff out there… I can’t share my work… I’m too scared.
That got me thinking…
I mean, over the years, I’ve put my writing and art out there dozens of times… Blog posts dating back to my old photog-blog like 14 years ago. I’ve written copy for several websites (mine & others), a bazillion social media posts, newsletters, articles for local newspapers. Even eulogies, speeches, poems and the like.
While I could have had more response hint hint, I was thanked and validated, and even called an artist, (which I didn’t even think myself as, at the time). After I resurfaced and wrote the first post for my new-ish site chiming-in detailing the death of my father… Several commented that I was so BRAVE… And again, I didn’t think myself as brave at all. I was just showing and telling.
And then it hit me kind of hard… much like the other day when I thought I’d cleared the counter after picking an ice cube off the floor… 🤕💥
Maybe I did kinda accidentally stop showing and sharing stuff.
So now, I’m in this weird place and maybe I am feeling a little gun-shy exactly like my zoommate friends.
And so I share this now:
I’ve been really busy writing for these past months years. It’s just… most of my words and stories have been going towards my memoir. Recently, I’ve been on such a roll, I kept telling myself if I stepped away to write or do anything else, it would just be me resisting crossing the finish line for this damn beautiful but exhausting memoir I have been working on forever.
I had to hole up in my office to get the book to the next level, to tap into some stuff that I wasn’t feeling so brave about… so I could really find her– Little elyse. And I suppose it meant, at least for a while anyway, I couldn’t do all the other things. (Sorry to say that also included laundry and piles of cleaning and maybe making dinner – whoops 😬).
It’s a lot…
Mining for the purest organic gems in the darkest of places can be a bit lonely and I guess, maybe, it’s a lot brave.
–
A couple of weeks ago, as I started coming up for air- finally cleaning, laundry, dinner… I decided to physically sift through my memory boxes piled high, and it was then I received a sign…
There I was, pulling out handfuls of old letters and cards from old friends and family long gone, when, I lifted up a handwritten-in-cursive 3 page paper from when I was ten years old! An actual original first draft! Or at least a general outline of my first decade and the best part of all… It’s in my very own, real-life-ten-year old Little elyse voice… And it DID match up to her voice which I have been writing in…
Can you believe it? (Thanks for saving it, Mom! ✨🙌🏼✨ )
It was a mega YES!!!! YOU ARE SPOT ON!!!! KEEP GOING cheer!
True life magic never ceases to amaze me and I just had to SHOW AND TELL!
–
AND NOW FOR SOME VERY RANDOM THOUGHTS:
1. I was in IKEA not too long ago- in the plant area. A husband and wife pass by me with a little one. She slows to check out an orchid and says how surprised she is that IKEA has some really nice plants. The husband looks around and says, Wait, these are alive? She looks back at him like he might be the most dense person to ever live and says YEEEAAASSS these are alive! And then he says, WAIT… Whaaaattt? No way. We ain’t getting no live plants- we can’t hardly keep our kids alive! *I almost invited them over for dinner… but I wasn’t cooking or cleaning at the time. 🤣
Speaking of plants, I am obsessed with this cutest planter ever… I got it on Amazon.
2. Last month I turned 52 and a couple weeks before that, I celebrated 25 years of marriage to one amazing guy. I first met David when I was in the third grade, and I wish I could tell you I was in love with him back then, but no can do 🤣. The story of how we found each other at the exact right time (there’s that magic ✨ again), when I was 24, and back home for what I thought was a temporary visit, is an awesome story for another time 🤔. Suffice it to say, I absolutely loved celebrating 52/25 and I may be the only one to ever say this, but I don’t have any negative thoughts associated with those big numbers… Only LOVE and gratitude for every second.
3. I’m tired of reading the phrase “Time is a thief!” Why is everyone giving time so much credit, attention, blame and shame? Time didn’t do anything to you and for the love of all things, Time DID NOT steal your baby away from you. There is only the present moment- this moment is ALIVE, while the past is not. Saying time is a thief is like wishing for time to stop? Is that really what you want? I know you didn’t mean it really, but our words and thoughts inform our next steps. I celebrate time. Every second counts… Please, can we just consider what we are wishing for – and maybe change up the narrative a little?
I did buy myself this little sign like the one in the best show ever The Bear… also found it on Amazon.
4. The trees here on the Virginia Beach east coast started to get a little less vibrant, a little less green, for probably a good month now. It distracts me. It captures my attention. It mesmerizes me deeply.
The breeze plucked the precocious yellow leaves first, a sprinkle of stars in the sunlight, they hung on by a thread until it was time to let go… to trust fall.
5. I found out that if I were to have been born a boy, my parents were going to name me Joshua Conan… after Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of Sherlock Holmes.
I do love a good mystery… 😅🤔
In closing, I just want to say thank you for any words and feedback. There is great fear for artists and creatives that when we do create and then share – There won’t be anyone on the receiving end.
So if you are receiving, PLEASE let me know…
If you already follow me on Instagram & Facebook, then you already know I have a habit of sharing inspirational & hilarious things pretty regularly, but if you missed my school pic I shared below paired with the Eight is Enough meme… Well, here it is:
I found out there are a bunch of other vintage people who also feel entitled to compensation… (Although, I have yet to see any of them prove it 😅.)
When I said, I NEED YOU. I mean it. Please subscribe, follow and share- so you can be a part of whatever comes out of me. (My website or Substack (although, admittedly, I have not taken the time yet to figure that platform out too much yet) and Facebook and Instagram…
(*I have the possibility of earning tens of cents for qualifying purchases as an Amazon affiliate. But rest assured, if I have linked something, it is because I freakin LOVE it!)
19 responses to “ShowandTell”
-
I enjoyed this so much, all of it! And I enjoy your presence in Silent Writing.
-
Congratulations on your 52/25! Here I am chiming in so you know I’m here enjoying your words.
-
AWWWW thank you for chiming in Gesene!!!! 💗
-
-
I always enjoy your words- keep writing that memoir!! And I agree living in the moment is the only way. I have noticed over the years that every time I’m asked my favorite kid ages I say whatever age they are currently. I am focused on enjoying the now!
-
R-Perfect and thank you for reading XOXOXOX
-
-
What a wonderful read! Light and fun and deep all at the same time.
-
Thank you for reading Barby!
-
-
Elyse, I love this! I’m looking forward to reading more of your writing!
-
Thank you SOOO much Cheryl! For everything!
-
-
Love your voice and your words and the beautiful canvas they color.
As I sit here in Paris with my morning coffee, I can’t think of better company. Thanks for giving me a piece of home-
Thank you so much Bec! XOXO
-
-
Love this!
-
Thank you SO much for reading and cheering Wendy!
-
-
I enjoyed reading this so much and can’t wait for more!
-
Awwww thank you Holli! Thank you for reading!!!
-
-
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 always love reading your thoughts and agree that living fully in the present is the only way to do it!
-
Thank you Leigh! XOXOXO The ONLY way to go!
-
-
You are so talented Elyse and I will read all of your works. Keep it up! I’m here for it!
-
MP thank you- thank you for cheering me on! ILYSM!
-
Leave a Reply