When the Colour Carries You

I sat down to write this week's blog and had absolutely nothing.

Not writer's block. Not too many ideas and no idea which one to choose.

Nothing.

Which is slightly ridiculous because this was actually a very big week.

There were things at work that had a huge impact on me, but they're sensitive and confidential and aren't mine to share.

So there I sat this morning, looking at a blank page and wondering what on earth I could possibly write about.

Then my computer updated and Chrome decided I no longer needed to log into anything.

Excellent.

Happy Sunday. 😂

But perhaps the week wasn't as empty as the blank page made it look.

There was another down-and-back day to Bendigo. My husband had more treatment on his eye - lots of little green flashes of laser - and now we wait and hope it does what it's supposed to do.

There were long days. There was the usual life stuff.

And there was a treadmill that barely saw me.

I'm now 23 kilometres behind on my Côte d'Azur walking challenge.

Twenty-three!

After finishing Dublin and starting this one with such good intentions, the long days and mental load won this week. By the time I got home, walking another few kilometres on a treadmill simply wasn't happening.

The Côte d'Azur isn't going anywhere.

I'll catch it up.

One kilometre at a time.

But there was one thing I did manage to do every single day.

Put on the lipstick, or LipSense as it’s officially called.

Today is Day 20 of Liptember.

Twenty colours in twenty days.

Every night you've voted. Every morning I've got up knowing there is a colour waiting for me.

Put it on.

Take the photo.

Share the conversation.

Do it again tomorrow.

And perhaps, without really noticing it at the time, Liptember carried me a little this week.

Not because lipstick solves anything.

It doesn't.

But because sometimes having one small thing you know you're going to do is enough to give a day a little bit of structure.

And strangely enough, I've done this before.

Back on 1 July 2019, I decided to set myself a challenge for Buttons by Brooke.

One new button every day for 365 days.

There wasn't some enormous business strategy behind it. I wanted to challenge myself, make something every day and have something new to share on my page.

Simple.

Except apparently I hadn't consulted the calendar particularly closely.

Because my 365-day challenge crossed into 2020.

A leap year.

Which meant my perfectly planned 365-day challenge actually contained 366 days. 😂

So I kept going.

Every day from 1 July 2019 until 30 June 2020, there was a button to make.

Some days I'm sure inspiration came easily.

Other days it probably didn't.

But the decision had already been made.

Make today's button.

Six years later, the materials are different, but there's something very familiar about Liptember.

Wear today's colour.

Maybe that's why I've enjoyed going back through the Buttons archives so much this month.

The two parts of my world have unexpectedly met again.

A lipstick colour sends me searching through old photographs. I find upholstery buttons I'd forgotten making. A fire hydrant waiting to be cut. A pirate hair tie that a much smaller Emma wore to school.

One little daily challenge is reconnecting me with another.

And it has made me think about something else.

Through my accounting work over the years, I've met people going through enormous changes in their lives.

People who have retired after decades of working.

People who have been made redundant.

People whose bodies will no longer allow them to do the work they once did.

People who have lost a spouse and suddenly find that not only has the person they loved gone, but so have many of the routines that shaped their everyday life together.

Those experiences are all completely different, and I certainly wouldn't pretend there is a simple answer to any of them.

But they have made me notice how much having something to do can matter.

Something that needs you.

Something you're responsible for.

Something you're working towards.

Something that makes you feel useful.

It doesn't have to be a job.

And it certainly doesn't have to be productive in the way we're so often told productivity should look.

Maybe it's tending a garden.

Walking a dog.

Volunteering.

Making something.

Training for something.

Cooking dinner for somebody.

Looking after the grandkids.

Walking a few kilometres.

Or, apparently, putting on a different lipstick every morning for 30 days.

Small routines can have surprisingly big impacts.

They give us a reason to begin.

And this week, when my head had plenty going on and my treadmill apparently didn't stand a chance, Liptember gave me that.

Get up.

Choose the colour you'd already chosen for me.

Put it on.

Take the photo (or many photos).

Keep going.

Of course, even that wasn't perfect.

Violet Volt used to be VIOLET.

I have photographic evidence.

Five years ago it was gloriously, unmistakably purple.

Yesterday I shook that poor tube within an inch of its life and eventually had to concede defeat.

Violet Volt had Violet Pinked. 😂

I'd even had a new dress in the wardrobe that I thought would work perfectly with it.

Thankfully the dress had enough pink, purple, teal and everything else happening that we made it work anyway.

Then I tried to take a full-length photo.

Apparently at 49 years old I still haven't learned what human beings are supposed to do with their arms in photographs.

Hand in pocket.

Other hand... where?

Lean?

Don't lean?

And then the timer went off while I was still figuring it out.

Perfect.

Actually, maybe it was.

Because my original 365-day button challenge wasn't perfect either. It accidentally had 366 days.

My walking challenge isn't perfect. I'm 23 kilometres behind.

My Violet Volt isn't perfect. It's no longer particularly violet.

My photograph certainly wasn't perfect.

And this morning I didn't even have a blog.

Yet here we are.

Maybe the routine doesn't have to be perfect to do its job.

Maybe we don't either.

Sometimes we just need one little thing that says:

Here's what we're doing today.

So today I'll put on Liptember colour number 20.

I'll publish this blog.

I'll send the weekly newsletter to The Beaute Circle.

At some point I'll deal with the washing and groceries.

And hopefully I'll get back on that treadmill and knock a little bit off those 23 kilometres.

Tomorrow?

There'll be another colour waiting for me.

Sometimes the little things - the routines, the creativity, the memories and, yes, even the colour - are what carry us through the spaces in between.

And perhaps that's more than enough for one week.

P.S. If anyone has mastered the natural-looking full-length photo pose, please send instructions.

At this point I'll accept diagrams. 😂

Be real, not perfect. Be Kind. Be Brave. Be Yourself.

From 366 days of handmade buttons to 30 days of Liptember colour - two very different challenges, both built around the simple act of showing up and doing one small thing each day.