‘The beauty of a rainbow, is the refusal to be one colour’
Have you ever had a rainbow appear, just when you need something to brighten your day? Perhaps one of those mornings it’s showering with life’s unpleasantries. Stumped your toe? Exhausting to do list? Boss being an ass hole? Suddenly, you look up at the sky and its impossible not to smile. What do we all love about rainbows? The magical creation from sunshine and rain that paints an umbrella of colour. Pulling us from a million different moments. Is it the lemon yellow, the juicy purple, the lollipop red? We can’t choose, as we know It takes more than one colour to create something so beautiful.
I have always loved rainbows, I see myself in the colours, I was always a girl who refused to be one thing. My determination to keep exploring my colours is something that has served me well as a writer. And indeed a crucial part of my process. There are no words more fatal to a creative soul than ‘you can only be one thing’. Creativity does not like to be put in a box. There was a day not so long ago, I had fallen into the ‘one thing’ trap’. Attaching to a label of who I was supposed to be, suffocating the dynamic girl I was born to become. I was saved by one of those moments you normally have on the toilet. I remember looking out the window at the rainbow, a treat for the eyes of dazzling colour. Beautifully defiant in her differences, laughing at the grey sky. I got the message loud and clear from the speakerphones of fluffy clouds never, ever become the grey sky.
Creativity cannot survive in grey sky. It needs colour, vitality, freedom. I think we all run the risk of putting ourselves in a box at some point or another. As writers it is our responsibility to let ourselves keep changing, to keep exploring, to not become stuck on a single story of who we are. We must keep searching for that pot of gold that lies inside. Ready to explore your colours and shine? Here is some inspiration to get you on your way.
- Make a rainbow
Time to let your inner child rip, go get yourself some colourful pens and paper, you are going to make a rainbow. This is something I do whenever I feel my wild side calling. I choose five passions and give each one a band of the rainbow. Want to see my current list? Astrology, yoga, real estate, creativity, travel. When you make time for your passions, magic happens, ideas are inspired and your imagination has plenty to play with.
- Book a date with one
Spending a night exploring your passion is guaranteed to give you a bigger smile than swiping right. Trading tinder for time with yourself is the biggest gift to your creative confidence, choose a colour from your rainbow and treat yourself to some quality time with it. Read, take a class, book a trip, dive in with heart and soul and immerse yourself in learning something new. Our passions deserve our attention far more than stranger’s dating profiles.
- Write about them
It is one thing to be passionate about writing though exceptional writing comes from the passions that lie with in you. It’s no surprise that the world’s best writers use their books as a way of exploring subjects that they know intimately. Passion is their goldmine of inspiration. Let your passions inspire your words. Dig deep on your journey of discovery and just like the rainbow, may it be bright, may it be bold and may it be beautiful.
Bon voyage rainbows!
