Change, no, Transformation

Last December, I uninstalled every social app on my phone.

I realized I needed to change. Then I caught myself. Change wasn’t the right word. Change is rearranging the furniture. I needed to transform: to become something I hadn’t been before. And the first thing I needed was time and space for curiosity and creativity, and the scrolling was taking all of it.

The quiet was strange at first. Then something came back. I started reaching for a pencil instead of my phone. I started making things again, not for a class, a client or a card company, but for me. For the first time in a long time, I was making just to see what would happen.

For most of my life, I’ve had ideas. Lots of them. They spark at the kitchen table, on a trail, halfway through a class with a room full of twelve-year-olds. Some of them I built. Most of them I didn’t, because I never gave myself permission to start. I always had a good reason. Not enough time. Not the right skills. Not ready yet. I’d let the spark burn for a moment and then quietly put it out.

So this year, I started saying yes to the sparks. I closed a business that no longer fit and made room for something new. I made myself a promise: twenty minutes, and it doesn’t have to be good. I drew a bad bat on a piece of scrap cardboard. I made the vending machine happen. And slowly, Spark and Ember took shape.

Here’s what I’ve learned: the spark was never the hard part. The idea shows up on its own. The hard part is making room for it, and then giving yourself permission to follow it before you feel ready.

That’s what Spark and Ember is for. It’s for the curious.

For anyone who’s had an idea spark and let it go out.

For anyone who used to make things, or always wanted to, and has been waiting for someone to say, “go ahead.”

Go ahead.

Come to a workshop. Grab an Art Snack. Draw your own bad bat. Start somewhere small and see what it wants to become.

There’s more to my story than I’ve shared here. Some of it is tucked away on this site for whoever goes looking.

Ignite your curiosity. Amy

P.S. Yes, Spark and Ember has an Instagram. I still use it for the business, but on my laptop, on my terms, and never first thing in the morning. The apps are still off my phone.