Coming of Age: Becoming Creative
- At February 21, 2022
- By Write in Community
- In Blog
16
“Walls turned sideways are bridges.”–Angela Davis
Openness, curiosity and, yes, change spark creativity. Sometimes, change arrives because of something we’ve set out to do. Often, though, it approaches us sideways like a sudden flash of light, and, suddenly, we’re thrown into cold water. Transitions like coming of age experiences drop us like a stone into the swirling eddy of our lives. They are wild places where we are challenged, left naked and afraid. At least a rise in blood pressure. We can either sink or use our arms and legs to reach a farther shore. Becoming creative helps us navigate. Here’s my story.
The long summer
I was almost twelve at the time, holding on like Velcro to parts of my childhood. Still enjoying youth’s unlimited creativity and joyful exploration. I loved pretending to be a soldier with the chop-chop rhythm of marching or, when I felt like it, a ballerina reaching out long arms to make wide arcs in the blue sky. Most of all, the predictability of every day was reassuring, a feeling of safety and, if I turned my attention, bread crumbs leading the way.
But that summer I sensed something changing. The earth was moving beneath and I was standing on a chasm widening more each—cracking open. Ringing in my ears whispering—jump.
The transformation
Sometimes, change just sneaks up, and when we look around, there it is, waiting like some unexpected guest on our doorsteps. When I saw the two-toned green ’54 Chevy 4-door sedan parked in our driveway, I didn’t know a thrilling life would soon gather around me, introducing me to a new world as exciting as wearing a fancy skirt with a ruffle. My sister had gotten her learner’s permit to drive to school, and I was able to tag along and be a voyeur in a social frontier that had not been charted, not even dreamt possible.
“Firsts,” the openings
To me, our “green hornet” represented more than transportation. It was packed with “firsts”–freedom, self-discovery and wide-open eyes. We no longer had to ride the bus with screaming eight-year-olds. Just the two of us gliding along the long open road where everything shimmered like the ice crystals of a newly frozen river.
The old world was slipping away, and, without looking back, I kissed childhood goodbye forever. My raft was inflating and I jumped aboard.—Becky Breed
Creative/writing exercise:
- Coming of age experiences or other major challenges happen throughout our lives and are packed with opportunities in becoming creative. Consider the time you left home starting college or a new job, moved across the country, confronted a health concern, and for some, just surviving. Read Mother to Son by Langston Hughes. How did you adapt, change/transform, innovate, encounter–endure?
- In change there is grief/joy, loss/gain, old ideas/ learning. Relationships are challenged/ transformed. Starting with your childhood to present day reflect upon milestones in your life where there were bumps in the road and you had to react.
- Choose your creative expression whether it be writing, painting, creating a montage or sculpture and ask yourself these questions: a) what was left behind; b) changes necessary to adapt; and c) new openings. How did you navigate by becoming creative?
- Create. Let your hands speak your heart.
For more inspiration, check out our website www.thewritingandcreativelife.com.
Or follow this link to purchase our latest book, The Fire Inside.
Peggy
I can just imagine you and your sister rambling down the road in the “green hornet”! A sight to behold!🤪
Write in Community
Yep, it was a lot of fun! And I finally learned how to recognize people in cars!
Linda Shriner
I so enjoyed your story about transition. Transitions come in many ways, some with ease and some as a jolt into our lives. I’d not thought about looking back and taking a good look at transitions in my life. Thank you for sending.
Write in Community
Transitions sometimes involve hard decisions, hard choices. When we can use our most creative responses, the challenges become easier.
Big Sister Karen
Becky and I sure had fun in that old Chevy. I taught her how to recognize and wave at our fellow classmates as we drove down the main drag before school started. It was a social skill she was lacking at the time. She was a quick learner!!
Write in Community
Big Sister, you helped me see with wide-open eyes! My first!
Mara
That’s beautiful. I wanted to hear more. It’s the beginnings of a book. Maybe next time around. I have a prompt….eggs!
Write in Community
Eggs, yes, EGG-cellent! Thanks for the creative idea, Mara! I’m already thinking about the next story.
Mike Stinson
Yes, I had my own “54 Chevy” transitional phase, driving down the road, map thrown in a campfire, open to adventure. Love the Langston Hughes poem! If I wrote a chapter for every transition, I would have one titanic tome!
Write in Community
I bet you were creative way back then, too. Innovative, adaptable and, yes, looking for the next adventure.
Barb
Becky… your writing is so easy to read. You are such a wordsmith giving the reader a personal story to imagine life at a different time and how it affects our own thinking of childhood. I bet you were the most fun and your sister was so sweet to include you! Thanks for a good read! Barb
Write in Community
Thank you, Barb, for your kind comments. In looking back over the years, I want to acknowledge and celebrate the folks who made a difference in my life. My sister is one of them. She held my hand as I vaulted, faltering at times, into adolescence.
Big Sis Karen
I re-read your blog Becky and realized what we went through does have a word assigned to it. When I think of transitions, I generally think of changing jobs, houses or marital status. What you and I did was invent “a bit of fun” in a small, sleepy town, (without malls,) that was obsessed with hog reports and the price of corn. Little did I know that we were partners on a monumental journey to adulthood. I’m glad I didn’t know at the time, it would have scared me to death!
Write in Community
Well said! Thanks, Karen, for being in the driver’s seat and giving me ride after ride. It has been quite a journey.
Monica A Breed
I love this story, Mom. I can see you and Karen tearing around town in the Green Hornet!
Write in Community
The Green Hornet lifted me out of childhood and shot me like a rocket into adolescence. My coming-of-age experience had wheels!