Refueling

‘Longing’ has been on my mind a lot lately. I’ve been thinking about the future, about feeling less drained, reminiscing of past years and happiness, and just overall searching for a different reality to exist within. That is not a choice that any of us get to make though, as human adults, we cannot just escape and decide to not face the realities around us and the tragedies they may hold. But, we can long for them, and that’s the feeling I’ve been having lately. 

I don’t think I’m alone in feeling like I’ve been driving around with my emotional energy tank on empty, and trying to fill it requires some serious strength somedays. It was within this longing to find energy, that I remembered there is a refueling station I had forgotten about; art. 

It was while I was helping a first grader through her online schooling that I remembered just how healing reading can be as a respite in the ultra-marathon of reality. It was time for read-aloud and I, myself, got excited for the break and time to immerse myself in a dream that existed within pages. 

This realization of the power of art in my favorite form, literature, has led me back to the library and I’ve come back to my book devouring ways. In doing so, this realization was solidified as I cracked open the spine of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. The novel details the tale of a group of people on the Channel Islands of the United Kingdom under German occupation in World War II, that found refuge, normalcy, and comradery in reading. It was such a lovely reminder that times of great distress can be managed through by the human spirit and the capturing of that spirit in literature. 

 Art is what makes us feel less alone, it gives a firm place to set our longings down, and a gentle warmth to open our imaginations up, and during the great unrest of 2020 I think we all need to reflect on what art has done for us in our past and how it can continue to refuel us as we fight to overcome the battles ahead. For me, literature is my chosen art form, but it can be anything from music to painting to photography to film and everything in between. 

With that being said, I’ve decided to explore the healing power of art in three parts: how art has fueled and recovered me, how it has done so for others, and how artists feel they bring forth that healing power. 

Join me on this journey if you will, or just dive in to whatever source of art can provide you with the power we all need in this time.