I spent the past week in California, and I was very worried that I wouldn’t find a meaningful souvenir to bring back to New York. And then I found The Giving Keys at Fred Segal, and I fell in love with the idea of a key.
It was really hard to pick a key because I’ve been really down on my luck and needing a little boost of everything lately: faith, courage, love, confidence, trust, etc. And then I found the CREATE key, and I had to have it.
Before moving to NY two years ago, I created at least one thing a day. I sewed, baked, cooked, and crafted a lot, and I used to have an Etsy shop to sell my little handmade creations; but NY has (ironically) completely sucked the life out of my creative drive. I’m just too busy here.
After having worn my CREATE key the last couple of days, I’m convinced that it inspired my first thought after landing in NY this morning: “I should sew Dad something for Father’s Day.” I hadn’t realized it before, but during my past five years of sewing, I failed to ever make him anything. And now I’m so happy to start designing a personal piece for my father, who gave me everything growing up, that I dwell a little less on the fact that I’ve felt like life has been picking on me lately.
Being inspired to create again is a reminder that things could be worse. And that being happy in the face of life’s other woes is just a matter of carving out a little personal time to do what makes me Me: create. One day, I’ll find someone else who needs this little reminder, too, and I’ll be ready to pass along my key. But for now, I’m going to wear it every day until I’m creating things, and being me, regularly again. My key is so much more than a souvenir.
