This comes form the Run Wild Creative archive, an email newsletter from way back when.
Hello sweetcheeks,
Today I wanted to talk to you about fruit trees. Say what?! Ok, stay with me on this one.
Imagine all of your combined energy, your physical body, your mental fortitude, your vitality is an orchard full of fruit trees. You got the image in your head? The rows of trees, the surface of the soil, the weather.
Now that you’ve got it in your head - how much fruit is there? It could be so ripe it’s bowing the branches or it could be so spartan that there’s barely any leaves and the soil is dry. There’s no right or wrong answer.
You can print out this image and colour in what your orchard looks like, if you're drawing inclined.
I’m asking you to gauge your energy levels before I talk to you about this idea:
There’s alot of stuff happening in this world right now. The climate emergency, wars, local injustice.
If you have the energy and your orchard is bursting with fruit, give back to the things that you care about in the way that makes sense to you and the cause*.
However - if you’re bone dry and need a good watering in order to fruit, take the time to look after yourself. You can only help others if you come from an abundant source of energy from within. The current media stories say that self care equals candles, over-sized jumpers and skin care, but all of that essentially points at purchasing more things. Sometimes self care could be a slow walk in nature, drinking lots of water, digging up a long forgotten hobby or a really good conversation with an old friend with unlimited tea. It’s the simple, easy things that get the most overlooked when we’re burnt out. Look within and see what you really need, not what the internet tells you.
A creative exercise for you to play with:
Pick an activity that you used to love as a kid and just fucking do it this weekend. Rent some roller skates. Borrow a kid’s skateboard. Draw while listening to the music of your youth. Play soccer. Collect rocks on a walk.
Let me know how it goes.
Sending love wherever you are,
Tash
*If you’re seriously thinking about helping a cause in a meaningful way, I highly recommend the effective altruism framework in order to make your actions, well, more effective. Sometimes the things that make us feel good about contributing are actually the least effective and the things that will make the most difference are quite humbling.