I'm doing the A to Z Challenge in April using the theme "What to Pack on Your Creative Journey." Let's pack some zest for life in our metaphorical suitcase.
Zest is the secret of all beauty. There is no beauty that is attractive without zest. ~Christian Dior, Ladies' Home Journal (April 1956)
A creative journey, like a physical one, will have its less than perfect moments. Misunderstandings, missed flights. Detours, derailments. Lay overs, late nights.
There are two ways that zest improves a creative journey.
First, when the inevitable downturn comes along, zest helps us to accept it as part of the process, maybe even part of the fun. This is the funny story that you'll tell at your next job interview in answer to the question about overcoming a challenge, or the one you'll tell when you receive the lifetime achievement award for your industry in twenty years, or the one you'll tell your grand-kids when they want to know about your life. There is a dark beauty in even the pitfalls of a project.
Second, zest is how we make sure that we're truly enjoying the good parts of the creative journey. The downsides are worth it when the upsides are fun, exciting, and satisfying. Zest makes sure that we don't take those moments for granted. Instead, we enjoy the heck out of them. Zest reminds us to smell the roses, to appreciate the brush strokes, and to get a kick out of the perfect word showing up just when we wanted it.
How can zest make your project more exciting and beautiful?
About Joy Weese Moll
a librarian writing about books
