Build the world you want . . .

Only you can do it.

Feb 03, 2024

Window of ancient ruins looking out on a lanscape, manicured garden and a wooden bench — Windows on a World © Kathryn LeRoy

Hello friends,

A closed door, an opened imagination set the stage for adventure. Characters waltzed in party dresses and chatted about the upcoming wedding swathed in silk blouses and pencil skirts clinging to their bodies, clothes held in place by square tabs.

The scene changed. Cinderella and Prince Charming gazed at the moon meant only for their eyes. Fashionable housewives wore pale pink woolen suits and pillbox hats, drove cars, and took the elevator to offices or sat with children teaching them to read. Stories spun across my room clinging to the walls, a gossamer reality barely visible but fully alive in a paper doll world.

On the other side of the house, a small boy lined hundreds of green plastic army men on linoleum squares, marched them across the floor, through erector buildings, and over mountainous blankets. Don’t dare move a single man. The battle had begun, and imaginary lives hung by a thread, literally and figuratively. Moving one could mean disaster for another—or you.

Years pass. We leave behind childhood worlds built by creativity and inventiveness. We enter another world. One of ups and downs, harsh realities over which we have few means of control, except one, our response.

The sun creates sparkling dots on the water behind tall grasses — Sparkling Possibility © Kathryn LeRoy

In a recent interview, Austin Kleon said, “You have to build the world that you want.” He described making a conscious decision as a young man to surround himself with people who cared about the same things he did, books, music, and people who made art.

His writing reflects that world. But his life also includes a wife, two sons, friends, a bike he loves, bills, losses, and a desire to create and offer building blocks to spurn readers’ creativity.

I have followed Austin for nearly six years, anticipating his Friday newsletter with ten things worth sharing. Austin’s is an eclectic world. He doesn’t know me or how his words expand my worldview by reading books I might not have found, listening to music outside my standard playlist, and exploring ideas from new and old thinkers week after week.

This power doesn’t belong only to Austin Kleon. He tells you that in each of his small, inspiring books. We create our world through choices, habits, and the molded ruts thwarting the possibilities within arms reach.

I’m not suggesting closing ourselves in to escape the “real” world. What if each of us, built our private domain around what brings us hope and fills us with enthusiasm, joy, and gratitude?

For you, that might be a good book, a blank canvas waiting for paint, a trip to see people and places with new eyes, or noticing for the first time your own space. Could it be conversations with neighbors, or holding the hand of a child, a parent, or a stranger?

Then we share. Create a new story, a better world.