Never Give Up

A Letter with Art and So Much Heart

Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash

Dear Friend,

What’s caught your attention today? What’s filling you with a sense of wonder?

Today, I am thinking about how I stopped myself from writing last week because I wanted to “get it right” - this piece of writing - and I worried I couldn’t do it. Instead of just sitting to write, I made excuses - “I’m tired”, “I have too much on my mind”, “I have no time”. The truth was that I wanted to write something that felt like it was worth reading but I felt frustrated when my words didn’t just flow out onto the page in perfect rhythm - that made me think about my 5th graders.

Photo by Natasha

We are working on an art project that has a certain level of frustration attached to it. It requires that students sculpt an animal out of tin foil. I’m simplifying - there are many steps - but when you finally create the piece, all the work feels worth it.

In our first class, several students got frustrated and said, "I give up. I made too many mistakes." I told them that mistakes were awesome because it meant they were learning. I explained that even I got frustrated when I was sculpting and it didn't look the way I originally wanted it to. 

In our next class, I read the book, Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg which is about the beauty of mistakes. It is a book that I truly believe every human from age 5 to 105 must have; they were deeply inspired by it. After reading, I said that if people just gave up when they got frustrated while creating something, we wouldn’t have lights, cars, etc. Hell, we wouldn’t have people walking around on Earth because learning to walk knocks us down a million times.  

However, it was in our most recent class that I saw the magic happen. As their animals began to take shape - they are all just stunning - a student came up to me and said, “Thank you for reminding me not to give up. I really, really like what I made." Another said, "I love this!! I'm so proud of myself," as he placed his piece down to dry. 

The moments in the middle of creating art - the messy middle that is often uncomfortable and where people wonder - should I just throw in the towel? - these are the moments that others rarely see that make it all worthwhile. 

I’m so grateful to have seen my students prove to themselves that if they go farther - even when they think they cannot do it - they can make something that seemed impossible, possible. Maybe that's why art is so beautiful - it's a reminder of the incredible strength of the human spirit, a reminder to have hope and never give up.

So today - inspired by my students - I sat down to write knowing that while writing this letter to you I might hit a place of frustration, I might feel like throwing in the towel. But I did it anyway because writing to you feels hopeful, it reminds me to stop worrying, just do it and never give up.

What’s bringing you hope today?

Cartwheels and love,

Natasha