I’ve seen Joanna Young’s writing over time, but it wasn’t until Poewar’s March Madness that I became a regular at her Confident Writing blog. Since then, she has inspired me to think deeper about describing things and ideas. Her powerful writing shows how we can have so many answers to one question.
How To Add Colour To A Grey Day
Although Scotland isn’t the cold, dark, rainy place a lot of people think it is, we do get a lot of dull, grey days. (Dreich is often the word for it: cool, damp, grey, drizzly rain.)
I was going through one of those grey days last week, filling my head with grey self-talk: what a grey day it is, what a miserable day, there’s nothing to see but grey. Till I decided to stop myself: to go out for a walk and – camera in hand – look for the very opposite. Go hunting for the colours of the day.
I was delighted with the results: 10 glorious colours found in city gardens, along the towpath by the urban canal, hiding under park benches.
But it wasn’t just the pictures and the colours that I took away with me. What mattered more was what I learned. That you can change not just the way you feel about a day but the way you experience it. You can change your experience by:
- Making a conscious decision to look for things: like colours, or signs of life, or positive events
- Flexing your creativity muscles: by writing, taking pictures, painting, blogging
- Looking in unexpected places: the nooks and crannies of your everyday surroundings might just contain hidden gems
- Changing your mental filters: you need filters to stop your brain getting overloaded with information, but sometimes you can set them too tight and miss the good stuff
- Sharing what you find: a message I wrote on Twitter about finding colour on a grey day drew people to my photos; maybe helped some people to think differently about their world or their day, and led to Meryl inviting me here to share these words with you.
Thinking about ways to add colour to a grey day seemed like a suitable gift to bring to Meryl’s party. It’s a frame of mind that can help us to enjoy not just one day, but the whole of a year.
Are there any other ways to find colour that you’d add to this list? What else can we do to add colour to the greyest of days?
Joanna Young is a writing coach from Edinburgh, Scotland who blogs at Confident Writing. You can also find her on Twitter (@joannayoung).
Hi Meryl, thanks for hosting my words here, and congratulations and best wishes again to Meryl.net on reaching such a grand old age!
Joanna
Joanna Youngs last blog post..Taking Stock Of Writing With Purpose
Meryl and Joanna,
These are great thoughts. I lived a scant 6 months in Dunoon Scotland, a world away from Edinburgh, but loved every cold, drab, gray day we had. I found comfort in noticing the extreme green of the grass everywhere (I’ve never seen a shade like it in the US). I loved when the rain collided with me sideways so that only one side of my clothes got wet. When I needed to recharge in the midst of Scottish weather, I got in my Ford Fiesta and headed over the high road to a tea shop in High Street. Sometimes when I need to add color (colour?) to my days here, I think back to those times. Wonderful!
Hi Joanna,
I’m in Oregon, pretty much west of you and just above the 45th parallel. We’re enjoying many gray days here as winter keeps her hold. But the plants – trees, flowers and grasses are thriving.
These days, it’s enough to enjoy their delight and resulting growth. Thank you for sharing.
Janet Johnsons last blog post..Live Streaming Enterprise 2.0
Joanna,
thanks for your wonderful words. At the moment here in Berlin we have a grand summer, but there will be days when it is grey. And then I will remember your post and do the things you mentioned in your post.
Ulla
Ullas last blog post..Bavaria #2: Bavarian monastery / Byern 2: Bayerische Klöster
@Janet, glad to hear the greens thrive despite the cloudy days. They must be happy plants if they don’t let the grey get to them 🙂
@Ulla, We’re having a grand summer here in Texas, too. It rained yesterday — so we have our occasional grey days, so it was perfect that I happened to post this yesterday. Back to sunny today.
Joanna, what powerful words and pictures! Whether the grey is internal or external we can change that by simply adjusting our perception. Dreary can become tranquil, chaos can become energetic. Our state of mind is one of the few things that we can control. I like putting on my rose tinted glasses and finding sunshine when it is hiding. Thank you for the reminder that even in grey there is beauty. Meryl, Happy Blog Birthday and thank you for giving us these wonderful gifts!
Karen Swims last blog post..Riding the Wave of Imagination
@Karen, inspiring, isn’t it? I’ve been fortunate to get wonderful guest bloggers like Joanna.
Hi everyone, sorry not to have replied before… I had a little difficulty getting on to the site.
Tim, thanks for sharing your perspective. I think I know just the tea room! I am planning to move to the Dunoon area in August, for many of the reasons you describe here: including the rain. It’s an environment that makes you feel joyful, your senses alive.
Janet, that’s it precisely: enjoying their delight. Each time I take more photos I’m learning to appreciate these ‘ordinary’ flowers more and more.
Ulla, thanks for popping over here! I’m sure there are always fascinating things to find in Berlin, even on the greyest of days… Wish I was there!
Karen, you have a great gift for sharing what you see through those glasses as well as finding the sunshine yourself. Thank you.
Thanks again Meryl for letting me share a little bit of my world with you here.
Joanna
Joanna Youngs last blog post..Creating The Space To Ask Questions: Asking Questions With A Purpose Part II
Hi Joanna
I am always inspired by your positive and creative outlook. Thanks for taking us on your journey with you, and sharing a little bit of your world.
As I look out my window here in the land downunder, I’m surrounded by subtropical green. But as I look closer, I see that’s it’s not just green, but many shades of green.
It’s these nuances that I love about colour, as with words… and then there are the unexpected discoveries when you take the time to look more closely and explore.
Thanks for an inspirational post…as always.
Yvonne Russells last blog post..Weekend Writers Cafe Experiment – Open Mic – Over To You – Let’s Chat
You’ve really touched on something here, Joanna.
I used to live in Indiana. There’s a statistic passed around down there, and I don’t know if it’s legitimate. It goes like this: 2 out of every 3 days in Indiana are cloudy. It has a reputation similar to Scotland’s, I think.
For me, it wasn’t the colors (sorry, American here. No “u”) that I missed on grey days; it was the sun. I’d actually go to a tanning booth once a week during the winter, not to get a tan, but to get some light!
Bob Younce at the Writing Journeys last blog post..My Blogging Journey
@Bob, I left it colours because that’s Joanna’s way. I love the British-style of English. I want the guest bloggers’ own voices to come through, so I left anything like that alone.
Are you serious about the tanning booth??? Going there just for the light?
@Meryl – I won’t begrudge Joanna using the U. Just saying that I can’t bring myself to do it.
And yes about the tanning booth. It was a trick I learned from my wife. Haven’t done it in years, but it’s a real mood boost.
Bob Younce at the Writing Journeys last blog post..My Blogging Journey
Meryl, I appreciated you leaving my “u” 🙂 I couldn’t bring myself to write it the other way either!
I agree with Yvonne: words and exchanges of conversation like this help us create a more colourful world
Bob – thanks for the tanning booth tip!
Joanna
Joanna Youngs last blog post..Asking Questions For A Change: Part IV of the Questions Series
Scotland can definitely fall into the definition of dreich, but you make some good observations about picking out colors: I would comment that when I’m outside on a dreary day, it can be a challenge to look for bright, cheering colors of red and oranges in the folliage.