Go absolutely fucking wild

A poem about perfectionism

I might have been definitely was ruminating the last couple of days about some disappointing results from tie-dyeing over the weekend with my husband and our kids when I read this prompt from

Lisa Jensen

which, of course, came at exactly the right time to help me process my feelings.

It also happens that my daughter was home sick from school and I didn't have time to write the post I planned about this very thing. I'll consider it some kind of cosmic serendipity and leave you with this poem:

Oh, love.

It's not your fault that you're still so afraid 
of putting too much colour 
in the wrong place.
Remember how the same person 
who admired your "zest for life" 
removed herself from yours completely 
when you were finally brave enough 
to hold your heart to the light. 
And all along, you have been so afraid 
of doing everything wrong, 
that it sometimes takes a while to see all 
that you've done right. So try 
to spend a little more time 
staring at the few mellifluous hues 
you managed to combine,
and next time you find yourself standing 
with a tie-dye bottle in front of a sea of white: 
remember to go absolutely fucking wild. 

---

The colours looked so pretty together like this that I had to take a picture, but it unfortunately did not translate to most of what I dyed because I was too timid with them. Everyone else's turned out great. We're going to make it an annual thing, so I will have the chance to try again next time.

Wishing you bravery in the face of perfectionism and/or unprocessed trauma (any anything else you've got going on). Let me know if you can relate. And as always, feel free to share if this resonated with you.