When Autumn happens, don’t you feel a need to be into new things? Maybe it’s based on enthusiasm at seeing more colorful scenery all around, the refreshingly crisp air and deeper blue skies, or maybe it’s just shaking off the heat of late Summer.
Action is part of satisfying this Autumn need. If I sit on my butt, I’ll lose out on a lot of what Autumn is about. To me, reinvention is the key. Ah, reinvention, it’s the stuff of mad scientists at work to corrupt the noble inventions of others, composers in thrall to the daemonic symphony laid out in their heads, and artists deep in otherworldly vision.
Did I mean ‘invention’ rather than reinvention? No, invention’s fine but thankless. Invent something brand new and celebrate fast because it’ll be ripped off in no time without so much as a quick thank you note.
However, reinvention is a different story. Take something stale and forgotten, twist it around in your hands and your head, rework it, add bits of innovation and intuition, make the right creative connections for it, and you really have something for yourself or anyone observing. If someone rips it off, go after them legally, but at least you won’t have that overwhelming feeling of having your ‘new baby’ torn from your arms and cloned badly for someone else’s profit.
What is this getting at?
You can reinvent anything, and you too can be happy as a spiderling shed of its first moult. Okay, I’m being a bit facetious, but what the hell.
Some simple things to try and reinvent, with even simpler guidelines I actually use thrown in:
1. Your house, your apartment, your room – even the smaller details can make a big difference in how you feel in your environment.
2. Your makeup, nails, hair – an innovative stylist once advised me, every so often shake it all up and go for what you normally wouldn’t in color and style just for fun, and it actually works! Much more amusing than monotony in appearance. If you always keep your one solitary look going, it can reach a point where you bore yourself with the sameness over time.
4. Your art or rehearsal studio – keep it simple of course, for maximum focus on your creativity, but new little items, unusual shelving, new backdrops, or bits of color can keep it from being stale when you look up from what you’re doing. Even a new scent or background music can affect creativity in a good way.
5. Your instrument – Unless expensively vintage, plan to redesign it in looks or sound. That can be a great project, but does require research and skill, and if you put your decadent imagination and hard work into it you just might have something outrageously different in your hands, slung round your shoulder, or at your feet, when you’re out on a gig. People do notice that, including fellow musicians.
6. Your clothing – if you must, go ahead and try one ‘trendy’ thing, but regularly updated, individual style wins out over the latest big bucks designer garments anytime as long as you keep in mind what’s flattering to your body while making the statement you want to make.
7. Your attitude – to reinvent an attitude in a positive way, that takes some work. Take one personality weakness and have at it. Try having the patience you normally wouldn’t, or sweet words and less critical insults, and see what happens around you. Makes a great experiment, and who’s to force you to be locked into only one way of being, either sweet or vile? It’s all about balance anyway, good with the bad.
8. Your toys – and you know what I mean so I won’t go into the gritty details of all that falls under the term ‘toys’ here. Could be anything. We all have at least a few things we play with for fun. Do a revamp, rehaul, or customization by your own hands. It’s something to appreciate after it’s done, and of course, to use and show off.
Think about it. You know you’ll have fun stepping around expectations to indulge in the kind of reinvention so suited to a crisp, refreshing Autumn.
I remain,
Hunter of the Extraordinary,
Goth Girl