I want to be like clay! That’s an odd statement to make. Isn’t it? Well, let me explain.
- Clay can turn into many things: clay is moldable, shapable, and flexible. It can become whatever you dream it to be. Not just one thing. It can start as one thing because you have a plan in mind, and then completely change into something else as you see a new, maybe better path as you work. As humans, we need to be like that. My original 15 career path ideas didn’t work out, I may be exaggerating or minimizing the number of career paths, but I’m not sure. Either way, I wasn’t “allowed” to go toward any art, or my parents would drop me cold. I was in the military as an MP. I have 90% of a Computer Science degree, which I didn’t finish due to an issue with Calculus 2, and the only professor teaching it who wrote with both hands at the same time found me “too stupid” to help. His words. I could do algebra, trig, statistics, and discrete math with my eyes closed then, but he decided on day 1, when I asked for a good tutor, that I was stupid. Without Calc 2, there was no BS in Computer Science, so I graduated with a BA in Russian, a minor in web design (which I only was doing for fun), and no idea how to use that degree in any natural way and Calc 2, assembly, and an internship shy of a BS in Computer Science. I married about two months after graduation, and then life changed utterly. I was working at HP and pregnant until I had to go on bed rest. Since then, I’ve done web design and gotten a degree in Graphic Design. I worked on a game design artist degree and learned animation, 3d modeling, level design, etc. I’ve gone back to painting, learned sculpting and pottery, drawing, quilling, welding, jewelry making, etc. I’m not afraid of learning anything new, except maybe Calculus. I’ve become very moldable and flexible. I have 0 fear of things I don’t know how to do because I know I CAN learn and do them. I can become anything; I believe that. Be like clay, be flexible and adaptable.
- Clay can be made anew: So you’ve made clay into something. You let it sit, and it becomes “bone-hard” It’s set right. It is now going to become precisely what it looks like it’s going to become- it’s set. But what if it isn’t what you wanted, or if you drop it and it smashes all over the floor? It’s just done, right? Nope. Add water, work it, and it will become moldable and fresh again. It’s reconstituting it. There are do-overs plenty with clay. Each makes you learn something, hopefully, and if it doesn’t work out, you aren’t stuck; you can try again. You can do something different. You can rework it. Be like clay, be willing to be made anew.
- Clay can become permanently hardened to last through most anything: Clay becomes ceramic when fired. Most of our history can be seen in cultural pieces thousands of years old. When it’s hardened by fire, it becomes nearly indestructible. Yes, of course, you can drop it. But look at some old pieces, and you will see how durable clay becomes when turned into ceramic. Be like clay, be willing to own what you are, and know how strong you have become by the fires that built you.
- Ceramics break, but they can still become more: You broke it. The dish, sculpture, cup, pot, or whatever is in pieces. Maybe it cracked during firing. Is it done? I argue no. Some of the most expensive and valuable ceramic pieces have cracked and been filled with materials such as gold to make them even more valuable and beautiful. Pieces that smash can become beautiful mosaics if you save the pieces. It just all becomes a part of their history. Be like clay, and know you can always become something else that is still valuable and beautiful, even if not how you thought you were permanently set to be.
Me, I feel hope when I think of myself as clay. I’ve been shaped and reshaped and turned into many things. I’ve put myself together, and nope that didn’t work out right, and I’ve had to try to make myself anew. I’ve become hardened and set in skills and thought I knew exactly what I was to be smashed into a million pieces- and now I’m waiting to see what I will become again. I’m broken and looking to become something new. What does that mean? I don’t know. I know I’m reworking those pieces to become anew. And I’m starting here by once again saying- let’s see what I can do with this. Maybe this new thing I have become is what I was meant to be. Will I be a programmer? A Graphic Designer? Will I get this business on track to be something? I don’t know, but I’m going to be like clay and fill myself with gold to patch those cracks and become more substantial and valuable that way, or I’m going to sweep up my pieces and see what new thing I can become by rearranging all of my pieces into something new. I want to be like clay because it survives and can still become beautiful despite the cracks and breaks.