Adaptation: living to write, writing to live

(Image by Dimitris Vetsikas from Pixabay)

“Don't get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless—like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot." 

-Bruce Lee

It's a funny thing. 

I opened the dictionary to the letter A, in the spirit of this themed-blog challenge, and instantly came across over more than 150 words relevant to our current world situation.

Such as:

Abandon. Abnormal. Absence. Abysmal. Acceptance. Acclimate. Adaptation. Affliction. Anarchy. Anguish. Angel. Anxiety. Apartment. Alcohol. Alone. Apocalyptic. Apprehension. Arrogance. Arsenal. Aspiration. Augur. Authority. Autopsy. Avalanche. Avarice. Aversion. Awful. 

How to pick just one?

But then, I really didn't have to. For it picked me.

The word was adaptation.

Why?

Every species has always had to adapt. 

Without adaptation, we are lost. This is true in nature, and it is true in the world, and it is also true in writing. For you are not exactly the same writer today that you were yesterday, and there will be some change, even if imperceptible, in who you are tomorrow. Writers need to stop, occasionally, to rediscover the world, and to rediscover themselves. If we always carry on in the same way, never pausing to get a temperature check, or a pulse confirmation, whether it is our own, or someone else's—such as our readers—we will be left behind.

We might even disappear.

Writing benefits from solitude, as much as it benefits from adaptation. Steep yourselves in birdsong, in sunshine, and, yes, in solitude. Take time to absorb nature. Really look at the leaves blowing in the breeze. What is flowering this time of year; what kind of butterflies are flitting from flower to flower? What does the sunshine feel like? If it is snowing, is the snow heavy or soft? Does it blanket your world, or spread a glittering veil over it?

Some people complain about the discomfort they are currently enduring under the necessary lockdowns instituted in many places. I don't feel stuck at home, I feel safe at home. There is a difference. I am overflowing with gratitude for the ability to do so. There is a roof over my head; there is food on the cupboard shelves. 

For much of the world is not so lucky. My heart breaks for the houseless, for those with food insecurity, for those fearing violence.

For those of us blessed with another word that starts with the letter "A," abundance?

It is our duty to stay home, if we can, to do anything possible to help others who are not so fortunate. Perhaps it is material, perhaps it is encouragement, perhaps it is offering to help or calling to check on friends or coworkers, perhaps it is listening to someone. 

There is always something that can be done. 

But at the very least, we need to adapt, and stay home. The world and our writing will be the better for it.

(Image by Anne-marie Ridderhof from Pixabay)

What are some ways that you've had to adapt with your writing?

“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”
-Albert Einstein

“Writing is a journey into the unknown.”
-Charlie Kaufman

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, or the most intelligent. It is the one who is most adabtable to change."

-Charles Darwin

“The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings.”
-Okakura Kakuzo, The Book of Tea

“To live is to exist within the boundaries of what is permissible and what is not. Adaptation to this is called life.”
-Elmar Hussein

(letter A image courtesy of JL G from Pixabay)