Finish to Exist

The Nest, found objects and natural materials, Erica Fraaije

Well, goodbye then

I’m working with 365 Days of Writing, a creative program by Geertje Couwenbergh. I don’t write every day, but I return to the prompts when the time feels right.

Today, I went back to one I’d skipped — just one sentence:

Write a letter. To yourself, to someone else, living or dead. What matters: write it. And finish it.

So I did.

Dear Erica,

 You don’t have to hold on.

 There’s nothing to hold on to. And you don’t need it.

Dare to float. Go with the flow.

 Everything changes — and that’s beautiful.

Live this moment, if it calls you. That will be enough.

It doesn’t have to be more or better than today.

 This morning, I wanted to make it a historic day.

 And this letter has done just that.

Well, goodbye then.

 Enjoy, if you can, just a little.

 See you soon.

Love,

 Erica

Finishing something is sometimes more important than making it perfect. Maybe that’s true for today, too.

A nest, completed (arrived, Finished to Exist)

Yesterday I finished this piece — a random weaving of rods, branches, rattan, and dried seed heads. It holds layers within layers.

At its centre, hidden: a ceramic cup with a small LED light, resting on a tangle of natural fibres. Even a half-dome of garden twigs I made earlier found its place.

It feels as if the whole thing has settled. It has arrived. The quiet joy of things finding their place.  When colour, material, meaning, and symbol come together, something clicks.

It doesn’t have to be straight. It doesn’t have to be how you once thought it should be.

 It may be neat, but it doesn’t have to be.

When your starting idea feels right, the form will reveal itself.

Yesterday I made this nest. Today I finished an exercise to write a letter I once left open.

Both were about the same thing: Daring to finish — to let something exist.

& Is there something in your life — a letter, an article, a project — that simply needs completion to become real? Geertje Couwenbergh and other creatives suggest that instead of focusing on perfection, you should just complete it.

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