Everyone starts somewhere, right? I promise, what you create matters, 100K followers or not, best seller/instagram/met gala celebrity status or not.
I read the blog of a friend 20 years ago and was forever touched by the very personal story of the death of his grandma-which,ultimately, lead to both him and his father becoming doctors. No one I saw commented. I regret doing the same thing. Still touched my heart and life. Doesn’t that matter?
If I’ve learned anything in 40 years on this earth. it’s we should let people know what they meant to us. Even, perhaps especially even, if it’s a distant connection. If the COVID pandemic has shown us anything, even causal connections with co workers/the coffee girl matter. These connections matter. You matter. We seek them. We NEED them.
Scientists have found that entire forests of trees are connected by a complex system of fungi called mycorrhizal networks. These fungi join together to form mycelium, and multiple mycelium together then pierce the roots of trees. They serve as a fairly sophisticated form of communication to each other, allowing for the exchange of necessary nutrients. This complex network exists mostly underneath the trees, and looks much like the mirror image of bare branches of trees, inverse and underground. The movie Avatar’s Tree of Life depicted this beautifully-it was as alive and intermeshed as a human nervous system, except a harmonious exchange amongst groves of trees. not just one (very complex) human body.
As a citizen of the modern world, I love living in a time where science and technology and has allowed us to advance so much. I feel most people agree-we long for ‘simpler times’ and love romanticizing how things used to be…BUT…we are still quite content owning a car, having an iphone, and going on evening grocery runs. Still, I can’t help but wonder if something was lost when we cut down so much of the world’s trees. All living things, especially mother earth, seeks homeostasis; meaning, a balance, ecological and otherwise. Perhaps our own nervous systems, or ‘souls’ as some believe, long for unity/that free exchange of more than just nutrients, but thoughts/ideas/love/sunshine from other as well. I think we are starved for it. Forever compensating for it.
Some trees within this network have more to give. They have access to more sunlight. Bigger network of roots. Hell, better luck at being a best seller/hollywood screenplay/seen at the Louvre and Met/whatever the pinnacle of creativity looks to you. There are those of us who are lucky to find one tiny scrap somewhere, somehow. The mortals who take more than they can give.
Obviously, when some take more and gives nothing back, it’s problematic. That’s when biology throw terms like parasitism/predatory behavior around. However, so long as (the majority of) us little people throw something back into the world’s collective creative sphere here and there, overall, we’re giving something back. Something BIG together, as this is most of us.
I believe that whatever creativity we find is that magic/that spark/that electricity that connects ALL of us. We are all part of what Elizabeth Gilbert describes as ‘Big Magic’. So go find it! Paint, sing, write, blog, cook your heart out. Teach Yoga. Use all the colors. Or none of them. Rock your best instagram able self. Let your miracle be nutrition for another soul. Whether you are able to nourish 5 or 50,000,000 seems more like arbitrary luck anyway. Even if it’s just your mom, that uncle/colleague you haven’t seen in twenty years, you will cherish the fact your little piece of magic mattered to someone once. You better believe it did. In fact, we should make sure all our collective ‘little’ magic doesn’t short circuit the entire damn system.
On the 0.0001% chance I become a big tree, I promise to nourish you all the best I can, dear forest. So if you’re feeling generous, hold me accountable, would ya? I’m pretty terrible at following my own advice 100% of the time.
Uma Parmar 
You speak truth, beautifully
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