free-form writing frenzy #6: try softer!

playing cna capoeira

elizabeth’s writing prompt #6

“when you try too hard, it doesn’t work.”

when you try hard, period, never mind “too”. makes me think of trying to eat an old piece of dark rye bread, back in my grandparent’s place. they had the bread guy come buy once every two weeks. yes, every two weeks. dark rye bread keeps FOREVER. it tastes absolutely heavenly the first day or so. it’s one of the things i beeline to when i go back to germany. and then after a while it tastes good and then a little oldish, and then stale, and then in the end, it kills your teeth.

that’s trying hard. goes well with the german mentality. “the will of the child must be broken!” that’s the parenting advice that my grandfather grew up with. really progressive stuff back then. the child was a wild, dangerous animal that needed to be broken in and tamed.

well, things have changed. i wouldn’t mind being a wild animal. of course i have romantic notions about that. wild and free like the eagle! not like the cougars in whistler right now who are hungry and emaciated and come into the villages looking for easy prey because that’s all they can handle.

when you try too hard, it doesn’t work. that cougar tried hard, he was in survival mode, and it didn’t work – they killed him. being in survival mode often gets you that, doesn’t it. i’d rather be in play mode. try soft. try gentle. try because it’s fun. try because – why not? maybe not even try. just play.

image by children at risk foundation

Published

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *