What Reality Are You Living In?
(Or, Creating the World in Which You Wish to Live)
How far do you go in your life to create the world around you, the one in which you most wish to live? I’ve been thinking about the extent of that process ever since I watched a documentary on famed writer/illustrator, Tasha Tudor.
Well into her eighties she lived in a cottage built in rural Vermont that she outfitted in a manner befitting the early 19th century in many ways. She dressed the part of an era bygone, often times rejecting electricity- among other modern conveniences. She made fancy dolls and included them in family functions, making up a whole universe of their activities (and even scandals!) for her own happiness and the entertainment of her children.
The documentary is called “Take Joy: The Magical World of Tasha Tudor.”
She was criticized by some for her ways, told she lived in a state of fantasy rather than in the world at large in all of its beauty and pain. People who live this way are oft much maligned, criticized for their resistance to living the way others do, or “must.” But I feel that these souls are the precious ones, the ones who create around themselves what they wish the world was and we are lucky to be invited.
Children giggle quite a bit. They play dress up, build forts under tables, and they play pretend. Lots of pretend. The imagination runs wild with their antics and there’s no limit to what they dream up for the world around them.
Somewhere in our young adulthood we drop those activities, forming the opinion that play and possibility are no longer ours to claim. I cry, unfair!
Don’t get me wrong. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t live in and interact with the real world. It’s impossible -and irresponsible- to ignore what goes on around us in the larger community. With adulthood comes painful knowledge and experiences, bigger burdens.
Watching the news is devastating these days. Has been for some time now. And it doesn’t matter where in the world you live. I don’t know about you but I think this knowledge, these horrors, are all the more reason to allow yourself the freedom to have a root beer float in your footie pajamas on a Thursday night.
When was the last time you did a cartwheel? Or spun until you were dizzy?
Or went sledding in the snow?
Does being an adult mean that you should no longer paint with your fingers?
Be enthralled by the number of stars in the sky?
Play dress up?
When you are a parent you get to experience kid things anew, and then again as grandparents- but what if you don’ t have children? Does that mean you lose your membership to the club?
This viewpoint of mine hatched a few years ago when I went back to school to pursue a B.A. through a fine arts college. Every day I was lucky to walk amongst those who fashioned theater costumes, wrote novels, crafted songs culled from the heart, those who drew and painted and saw things through the lens of a Cannon that most of us can’t. After being surrounded by so much creativity and creation, such ‘pretend’ underscored by tremendously hard work, my inner foundation was rocked.
It changed me forever.
How do you want to live and how do you want to celebrate your life?
Pretend, play, goofy adventures, being the silly-billy on the regs is as important as being serious and responsible. There’s research on its benefits to back me up. I’ve included a link below to an especially helpful article. Have a read if you’d like…
As for building your own personal microcosm: fashion the world around yourself that you would like to see and invite others to be a part of it. It is endearing. It reveals the warmth of your soul. Give the gift of your spirit to others. Revel in theirs.
I’d love to hear your experiences with this!
Yours truly,
Vivie V.
