Growing Creativity
An Essay About Orchids and Creative Exhaustion
I don’t have a green thumb, but I love the outdoors and the beauty of nature. That said, one of the hardest things about being trapped in our small apartment for days on end over the course of quarantine was the lack of nature to interact with, and a lack of vibrant natural color.
My husband and I began to crave the mood-lifting presence of plant life.
To satiate our greenery needs, we bought a beautiful orchid plant that proudly heralded purple blossoms on long stems like flags to spruce up our living space, and as first-time plant parents, we learned slowly to care for it.
We created a watering schedule based on research and placed it in different areas of our small apartment to ensure it received the best light and temperature for its needs. We carefully trimmed dying leaves and stems to give it the best chance at life.
Basically, we treated our orchid very kindly, and it thrived. Its glorious purple blooms brightened the living room every day for weeks.
Only Gold Can Stay
However, one day, the blooms began to droop in spite of our careful care. Then, they began to wither. Slowly at first, then faster, until the day came when they fell off altogether and dropped into…
