This scarf made and worn to reflect on those people in our lives who embody adaptability. For me, someone I call Elsie. 

There’s a comforting stability that comes with making plans, a sense of certainty that only a map can give. I’ve made all sorts of plans with Elsie, ones that span both hours and years. But with Elsie’s help I’ve learned that when true north is well-defined in your mind, you can better rely on the fluid compass rather than the unchanging map. Elsie embodies the idea that if your timeline is long enough, things like change and what seem like distractions only enrich the journey. Adaptation is the ability to make every timeline long enough. I’ve seen Elsie intuitively change plans, friends—careers, even—knowing that no timeline is too long when genuine happiness is one’s end.

This sense of true north allows Elsie to be, above all, accepting. To take new events, new ideas, new encounters, and interpret them positively.

Perhaps if you too do the work to find true north, you’ll find with it comes the ability to embrace both changes in plans, and entirely new kinds of ideas yet unknown.