We find ourselves with British novelist John Galsworthy today with his comment on the true nature of beginnings. He can’t be the only person to ever have made this observation about beginnings, but I like very much that he is a novelist and notes this.
The thing about the beginnings in fiction is that we as the reader are just getting the sense of things. We don’t understand the mess the protagonist is in, whether he sees it himself or not. The author, however, knows exactly the predicament his protagonist is in at every juncture. And the beginning of the story is messy in a special way because the mess itself is just starting to reveal itself.
For us in the real world, we might see messy beginnings as something to avoid. I’d like to take the opportunity to reframe the idea of what a mess is. Let’s look the concept of Eton Mess, which is a dessert usually found in Great Britain consisting of merengue, cream, and strawberries.
When we think about messes, we usually get a bit anxious and irritated by the lack of control we feel at the onset of a mess. It’s usually a predicament we feel unprepared for and that we don’t have all the information we need to approach in a successful way. What if we took a different tack and approached the next mess, beginning or otherwise, as if we were coming upon the Eton Mess above? What a gift!
I am aware that not all messes are sweet and fun to look at. But here is my challenge to you:
Set a timer for 90 seconds. When you’re ready, start the timer and make a list of the messes in front of you. Stop writing when the timer goes off. When you’re ready, restart the timer and make a list of all the opportunities these messes afford you.
If you’re willing to share the results of this activity below in the comments, I would love to hear them!