Today is the first day of spring, but really, it arrived in our neighborhood last week when the azaleas bloomed. Wes, our five-year-old son, called them “astonishing.”
Last week, Wes and I made some chalk drawings of flowers on the green cement slab in our backyard that serves as our chalkboard. I managed to capture some footage of our chalk flowers (at the beginning of the video) before the rain washed them away.
This week, while Wes was at school, I decided to start a new drawing—but this time I wanted to draw a whole flower garden. I’ve actually wanted to do this since 2023, when I wrote about it in my journal, but as someone who typically works small, the large size felt intimidating. Our “chalkboard” is about 12 feet wide by 8 feet tall, so it would be the biggest drawing I’d ever attempted.
For the past few years, I’ve struggled to finish (or even start) big projects. Most of it comes down to overthinking. I want to make something beautiful, profound, undeniable. But that kind of pressure makes it impossible to begin, even the smallest projects. So instead of starting (and possibly failing) I write, and sketch, and ponder, telling myself it’s all part of an important research phase. As months turn to years, the excitement fades, until the old project is finally replaced by a new one, and the cycle repeats.
But you know who doesn’t overthink? Five-year-olds.
Watching my son make art has given me a new way to approach my projects. There is zero overthinking with Wes. Whether it’s a paint palette or a piano he dives right in and starts to play. The results are joyful, wild, and unpredictable.
So, with that spirit, I picked up a piece of chalk and began to draw. No plan—just one flower after another. I started in the morning and by the afternoon my body was aching, everything was covered in chalk dust, and my mural was complete.
It’s funny that a project that loomed so large in my imagination could be knocked out in half a day. It makes me wonder how many other seemingly ambitious goals may be well within our reach.
If you’ve been putting off a big project I’d like to send some five-year-old energy your way and remind you how much fun it can be to dive in, unprepared, and get your hands dirty. Who knows? You might be done by dinnertime.
Wishing you a happy (and astonishing) spring. 💐
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