The heart behind my pivot
A few weeks ago, as the news continued to speculate about the length and severity of the Covid-19 pandemic and what the coming months would look like, I realized that there would likely be no wedding season. At least not in the way I was planning for. And the stress of not knowing, combined with unseasonably amazing Seattle weather, pushed me into my yard to work out my frustration.
The thing about a yard, a garden, nature in general, is that it will keep on going no matter what happens around it. The grass will grow, and so will the weeds. The flowers will still soak in the sunshine and push out new shoots and leaves in preparation for the beauty to come. Time may feel like it’s standing still, while we are all staying home, but all around us, life is still happening.
So I started gathering the early spring flowers {love you hellebores!}, the bits of greenery and leaves that are evergreen, and created some arrangements just for myself. This may make you roll your eyes… “yeah, yeah…you’re a florist and you probably always have flowers in your home”. But this is actually so far from the truth for me. My house is not always filled with flowers. In fact, especially during the spring and summer months, when wedding season is in full swing, I barely have time to care for the things growing outside, let alone cut them, arrange them and bring them inside to enjoy myself.
As I designed just for me, a few things began to happen…
Joy came back. The whole reason I became a floral designer was because of the joy it brings me. But I was too focused on the stress and worry of the state of things in our world and it was robbing my joy. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to be informed and aware. And i know there are people in the world, in our community, experiencing tragedy and heartbreak and that is devastating. I’m not saying we ignore reality. But we can control how much time we spend in the depths of information and not let fear take over our daily lives. Its OK to take time away from our screens and the headlines and do the things that fill us up. For me, that’s floral design. For you…..?
Stress went away. Cutting flowers out of my yard and thinking about what they could look like together in a vase is somewhat like treasure hunting. I’m not a flower farmer, and the assortment of things in my own garden is a bit random. So wandering around on my little .5 acres with my girls looking for colors or shapes or textures among what we do have is just fun. There is no pressure to include ‘the right’ flowers or the type of flowers that I order for my brides, because I don’t even have most of those things. I simply get to spend time outside cutting the things I think are beautiful, watching my girls get excited finding a ‘beautiful flower’ (aka dandelion), and taking in all the pretty around us. If that doesn’t help a person to relax, I don’t know what will.
Creativity sparked dreaming. Sometimes I feel like God places an idea on my heart out of absolutely nowhere. He knows my inner most dreams and desires, along with my passions and gifts and says “Here. Go this way!” And it creates a buzz inside of me that energizes me to a level that I can’t explain. I know I must make this idea a reality. And so the Floral Design Boxes were created. And the shop was set up. And it came together without too much frustration and overwhelm, which is usually how I know that I’m heading in the right direction.
And so, here we are. I’m a florist with no weddings this summer, none of my planned on income, and no certainty about when things will change for that part of my business. But I have hope, and I have joy and I have dreams and I will continue to share those things with all of you however I can. Through whatever new, crazy ideas I feel called to. I hope, more than anything, that you find a way to be creative when you are overwhelmed or stressed. And that your ability to be creative sparks dreams in your heart that feel supernatural. And if I can be a part of that for you, enabling you to find beauty and joy and hope when things feel hard or scary - even if it’s just through flowers - I will call this endeavor a success.