Andrea Patten

What is one to do when you don’t know what to do? How do we choose how and where to put the next foot right when the way forward is unclear?

When I write, I usually know where to go. But this time, there’s a topic lurking just under the surface. So I canoodle around on the keyboard and hope it will decide to join me. Like so many of my writer friends, our current state of affairs has taken creative skills on something resembling Mr. Toad’s wild ride. Sometimes we focus and the words come spilling out. Sometimes they even come out in the right order. Life’s uncertainty can create space for good things to happen as easily as it can drain us of purpose and focus — except when it doesn’t.

I canoodle around on the keyboard and hope it decides to join me. Click To Tweet

I don’t know what else to do with an unruly topic: it won’t go away and leave me alone but it remains elusive, flat out refusing to become clear. In a way, it reminds me of a pan of water on the stove, just before it starts to boil. There’s a bubble here, and another one over there. And, while their activity level looks a bit leisurely, those bubbles are part of a much bigger picture. They are part of building energy, an energy that will not only heat water but will change part of it from liquid to gas. Steam.

And a change in form is a type of magic, is it not? The stage magician enlists our willingness to be fooled as the ‘nothing’ behind an ear suddenly produces coins. We don’t know how it happens. Alchemy. Magic. A change in form. While it looks simple, it’s a really big, complex change. Just like boiling water.

When you stop and think about it, there’s a lot of alchemic activity swirling around us. The first one that comes to mind is that thing with breath: humans using oxygen which changes to carbon dioxide for trees that then return it to us in its original, usable form. Our airy waste feeds the trees while theirs becomes the source of life for so many air-breathing beings wandering the planet. It’s another matter-changing bit of magic.

Nature provides other examples: snow melts, ponds freeze, and at certain times of year something’s probably hatching almost anywhere we choose to look.

Of course the most familiar example of form-changing experiences is the transition from caterpillar to moth or butterfly. And while it’s a metaphor that’s been done to death there’s a good reason: it’s an example that give us solid toeholds for learning.

Think about it… you’re this little wormy bug thing, wandering around, munching on plants. Some of your friends and neighbors get picked off by weather or birds or well-intended gardeners who don’t know any better. But you’re still there… moving from plant to plant, having your fill. Did you know some species of caterpillar eat as much as 27,000 times their body weight during this part of the life cycle? But, as often happens, I digress.

Somehow, those little critters enter the dark place, are turned into a type of goo and are born again — this time in a more beautiful form. And in this new form, the creature feeds on completely different parts of the plant than it did in it’s last life. Sometimes when I watch the butterflies visiting various garden plants I wonder if they remember the food preferences their caterpillar-selves enjoyed? What carries forward from their previous life? What falls by the wayside?

They have nothing to say (and little to do) about this. Caterpillars that survive long enough to face metamorphosis become moths. Or butterflies. Puddles freeze and dandelions go to seed. Water on a hot burner will boil. Perhaps they don’t know it’s coming. It’s just what happens. They don’t struggle with acceptance.

They don’t need to have faith and I doubt they fear the unknown. Click To Tweet

So what do you do when you don’t know what to do? Hopefully, not much. I plan to try to learn to do less. To stand in place and take the next obviously correct action. Like caterpillars, dandelions, and hot water — the change is gonna come. No amount of  hand-wringing or pot-stirring is going to make that any different. And the quicker we accept that fact, the happier we’re all going to be.

I love to edit. While some people approach editing with a sense of duty and dread, I bring a sense of adventure and possibility. Although it’s not always obvious from my blog posts, I’m a pretty good self editor. There are a number of writer friends tell me that I’m often able to improve their work.

But today I’m not thinking of editing the written word — at least not until I get started in an hour or so. What’s showing up instead is a very juicy turn of phrase I came across a little while ago: edit your life.

On first reading it evoked small, manageable flood of images: editing web copy, relationships, a wardrobe, editing books…  all difficult but immensely satisfying tasks. Some will wonder how I can apply that same word to so many different domains but that’s where dictionaries kick butt.

Select, Arrange, Prepare

1) The first definition is usually similar to this: to prepare [for publication] by selection, arrangement.

Something written may be first to show up in your mind’s eye but, for me, this one also speaks to getting dressed in the morning. We prepare a “look” by choosing and arranging. We can also select and arrange a playlist, an exercise routine, or a grocery list. By the way, who else is finding that using grocery delivery makes it easier to avoid impulse purchases?

2) The next part of the definition? To prepare and make ready [for publication].

Sorry, y’all — I can’t get past the thought of preparing and making ready a couple of large loads of laundry. (Next on today’s agenda.) Nonetheless, laundry can sometimes be a good example.

3) Here’s one that got my attention today: To supervise and set policy [for a publication].

I’m a grown up and responsible for myself and my choices. I get to supervise myself and my life. But what really got me pondering this whole ‘edit your life’ thing was the idea of setting policies. I’ve worked places with editorial policies and had to conform. But what are the policies I’ve set for my life? Are they the same as my my values? Are they the rules I create that help me manifest those values? I believe that this long period of introspection is allowing me to review some of those rules. And I think it is only when we can once again mix freely and face-to-face that I’ll truly understand these particular edits and adjustments.

Supervise, Splice, Set Policy

4) To prepare [a film or tape] for presentation by cutting, dubbing, splicing, etc

Moving to a different medium changed the picture in my head. In all of these parts of the definition, we’re getting something ready for others to see. (Hey, even the laundry works here!) I like to think of editing as a way to polish a project, to put the author’s best foot forward — to make a good first impression. Maybe that’s why I love the process so much: with good editing, projects and products just keep getting better and stronger. I like to think that’s true of lives as well.

When moving this idea more directly into our lives, there’s a need to take a look at what stays and what goes. This is certainly a good time to bring a Marie Kondo eye to our homes and our lives: what brings me joy? What is useful or beautiful? What’s behind keeping things that don’t fit those descriptions?

Additions, Deletions, New Directions