Round with Mystery

By: Gabriela Yareliz

We don’t always have things figured out before we start. Sometimes, all we have is a question. Beth Kempton talks about this in her summer writing course. I get that, and yet, we often foolishly want to have things figured out, a map charted, a path paved. We like neat little things that are simple and easy. Flat and visible, not round with mystery. But life doesn’t work that way. Just as it is in writing, and in so many other art forms, in life, we don’t get to have everything ready or understood. We are often on a journey to understand and figure out. It takes attention, energy, curiosity… a comfort with uncertainty and risk that we as a society often stay away from and try to cancel out.

It’s ok to start something and not know where it’s going. It’s ok to only have the question and not the answer. Those tend to be the most meaningful journeys– the ones where we have a burning question, and we continue and continue until we have more clarity.