Category: Trying New Things

Dear Diary,

This month, I have successfully kept all my plants alive. And it was a really great experience.

In the past, I have not been a very good plant parent. I was pretty bad at knowing how much sun and water each plant needed. I would forget which plants needed more attention, and which one’s needed to be left alone. And usually, towards the end of the month, I would just forget about the plants completely.  

But this month was different. I was taking care of friends’ plants and I could not let them down. Not only did I want to prove to myself that I could take care of plants, but I also needed to prove it to my friends.

I was able to keep all of the plants alive and overall healthy by being consistent. I think my inability to take care of plants in the past, was a reflection of my inability to do things consistently. I am a daydreamer and it is very hard to convert thoughts to consistent actions. I always want to do 100 things, and rarely get around to doing them, but when I do, I struggle to be consistent.

By taking care of these plants, I was really forcing myself to make being consistent a habit and a part of my life. While I might be sounding a bit dramatic, through my consistency in taking care of the plants, I was more consistent in taking care of other things. I was consistent in cleaning my apartment, doing the dishes, running daily errands, etc. I found that all the little tasks that always seem to build up and overwhelm me, became so easy. There is nothing hard about watering a plant once a week and checking up on the plant every now and then. Just like it isn’t hard to wash that one glass or put something back where it belongs. But not being consistent with these small tasks and leaving them to the last minute, cost a lot of time and energy, causing unnecessary frustration.

So I am happy that I kept the plants alive. Do I want to have 100 plants in my house now? Not really, I am okay with two or three cute ones. But I am glad I was able to practice consistency.

Love,

Lelani

Dear Diary,

This week, I tried making collages.

Recently, I have been in a really creative mood. I have been daydreaming about making my ideal artwork – about how it would look like, how would it convey a message, and how it would make me feel. Alongside my daydreams, I have been really fearful, afraid to create an artwork I wouldn’t like or one that I felt would be “objectively” bad. I needed to take a step to get over the fear of creating, the fear of experimenting, and doing something wrong.

By chance, I discovered Landing, the collage-making platform that offered a relaxing and rewarding experience, with a community that “celebrates every individual’s creative vision and expression.”

So, what makes Landing great?

Landing’s ‘creator studio’ simplifies the collage-making process by providing creators with a ‘community library’ filled with interesting images and easy-to-use tools to resize, edit, and rearrange these images to create endless collages. And on days that finding images is too demanding, Landing offers you the ability to “remix” or make your own rendition of another creator’s collage. The simplicity of Landing encourages creators – from beginner to advanced artists – to experiment and try new things. 

With the current lack of an undo button, Landing dared me as a creator to embrace making mistakes and work through them. While eventually Landing will be adding undo and redo features, I appreciated the opportunity to manually unassemble and reassemble parts of my collage until I ended up happy with the final product. Moreover, Landing gave me the opportunity to challenge my fear of creating something I didn’t like and allowed me to take the first step toward creating my ideal artwork.

Beyond the encouragement to create from the simplicity of Landing’s creator studio, the platform’s community is one of the most loving and supportive. I received sweet compliments on my collages, which encourages me to keep creating with less fear each time. The Landing community truly fosters a “space for creativity [and celebrates] the joy of discovery.”

I am really glad that I found Landing, as it has been really helping me take the first few steps back into getting back into art. It has allowed me to slowly get back into the rhythm of creating art, without fear and anxiety. I definitely will continue creating and experimenting on Landing.

Love,

Lelani