Holly Ringland Instagram – I wrote these words in 2021. Still, they hold. My day-to-day conversations are woven with the same threads: grief, burn out, overwhelm, anxiety; fuelling hope resilience in a surrounding sense of hopelessness; reflecting on gratitude, finding courage in spite of fear. Searching for magic, the reprieve of laughter, medicine of nature goodness in humans. How to walk the line between continuing to show up taking the rest we need to continue.
I return to the ritual of adornment. Over the last 20 years, cultivating self-expression this way has been a form of liberating my life from the trauma of male-perpetrated violence; restoring life – joy, colour, desire – to a lifeless state, so to speak. Now, for me, adornment is how I practise embodying creativity. It’s also a massive ‘fuck, no’ to apathy. It’s my way of preserving a sense of wonder and finding strength to be present, feel discomfort, stay vulnerable and curious, give a shit, and keep showing up, however I can for myself and others. On this particular anxious day in 2021 (pictured) adornment was wearing a crown made of my hair, a duster coat of dreams walking in a breeze on Gadigal land.
Adornment reminds me: you can feel sick with grief wear flowers in your hair.
You can be struggling with trauma find joy in the art of self-decoration.
You can feel misunderstood, shut down simultaneously deeply connected.
You can be unsure of every shaky step, yet feel strong infinitely possible.
Mess magic.
Grief joy.
Fear resilience.
We can feel it all, all at once. This is the power in you. Me. Us.
Rest when it’s too much.
Rest.
Don’t give up.
I’ll be writing more about ritual creativity in my newsletter #TheJoyRise on @substack. Every month I’ll also answer reader Qs about creativity. Send me yours or subscribe via link in bio – I’d love to hear from you. 1st issue coming soon!
#JoyIsAnActOfResistance | Posted on 19/Jun/2024 15:30:46
