In college, I had a friend say to me, 'We keep the high visibility areas clean; the rest you can just close the door to hide." He was referring to cleanliness in his home but I've been reflecting on what this means in a much more personal space.
Today starts another National Novel Writing Month where writers write every minute they can, hoping to achieve a word count goal so that at the end of 30 days, there is a measurable bit of work in which they may feel pride for the accomplishment.
My story is outwardly about witches. But internally, the story unwinding in the outline has become this struggle between high visibility areas and low visibility. That which we allow others to see of us and that which we know we are. For some I suppose, they are the same. For most, it is not.
I just saw a brilliant work on stage where one of the characters explored a single word - knowing. He explored the exposure we allow friends as well as strangers to see us in the light we allow. Moreover, we give everything inside us to anyone who will lend their ear for nothing more than the release of exposure. But the small fraction of ourselves kept private and given to those closest can truly say they know us. Know. In the play, the characters spoke of sex and how the term knowing a partner referred to having had sexual interaction with the other. In my opinion, it translates to the greater secrets we hold onto desperately so that we keep what we can to ourselves until we truly trust the one before us and give them the secret bits.
I'm smack-dab in the middle of this exciting time in my life (neither positive nor negative for anyone keeping track), where I'm afforded the opportunity to clean up the things I've neglected for so long. And in this period of cleansing, I'm finding it extremely helpful to start with the low visibility areas and when that becomes overwhelming, I retreat into the high visibility areas (that always needs work) and clean up a little there too.
Today starts another National Novel Writing Month where writers write every minute they can, hoping to achieve a word count goal so that at the end of 30 days, there is a measurable bit of work in which they may feel pride for the accomplishment.
My story is outwardly about witches. But internally, the story unwinding in the outline has become this struggle between high visibility areas and low visibility. That which we allow others to see of us and that which we know we are. For some I suppose, they are the same. For most, it is not.
I just saw a brilliant work on stage where one of the characters explored a single word - knowing. He explored the exposure we allow friends as well as strangers to see us in the light we allow. Moreover, we give everything inside us to anyone who will lend their ear for nothing more than the release of exposure. But the small fraction of ourselves kept private and given to those closest can truly say they know us. Know. In the play, the characters spoke of sex and how the term knowing a partner referred to having had sexual interaction with the other. In my opinion, it translates to the greater secrets we hold onto desperately so that we keep what we can to ourselves until we truly trust the one before us and give them the secret bits.
I'm smack-dab in the middle of this exciting time in my life (neither positive nor negative for anyone keeping track), where I'm afforded the opportunity to clean up the things I've neglected for so long. And in this period of cleansing, I'm finding it extremely helpful to start with the low visibility areas and when that becomes overwhelming, I retreat into the high visibility areas (that always needs work) and clean up a little there too.
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