Flashback! “Creating Love (When Work Isn’t Enough)”
Cynsations, Feb. 2022
The author smiling, with long medium brown hair and glasses, in purple shirt, holding her picture book, Love, Violet
“And what is art for anyway?
A place we gather
to share the journey,
our pounding hearts.” C. S. Wild
I remember struggling so hard with this essay–it was winter, my “bad” health season. I wrote it in bits. Too many bits. But somehow, this piece emerged. Which was appropriate because it’s about the struggle to create–while being human. While grieving or moving or being sick. Or maybe while working, parenting, caregiving, all the things.
I’m a pretty obsessive, joyful writer. Yet, I have trouble letting go and resting. And the one thing chronic illness has done for my creative life is to enforce limits. Once my eyes stop focusing, I literally cannot read. When my brain fills with fog, I must stop. It’s okay, right? Yes. Yes. Yes. And what I keep learning is that, despite hard days when I long to work but can’t, the breaks are important. They deepen the work. They leave space for discovery, for reinvention. They help me stay human. Only then can I truly connect with other beating hearts–through this imperfect, human art.
“Creating Love (When Work Isn’t Enough)”
Wishing you peace and rest for your journey today.
Charlotte
P.S. Cynsations is the blog of Cynthia Leitich Smith (Mvskoke Nation) and her lovely team of writers. If you haven’t already, find her books and her imprint, Heartdrum at HarperCollins, featuring books by Native Americans for kids 8+! She is making this world a more just, humane, and beautiful place every day!
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