Nature Doesn't Screw Up Color

There was a moment, a couple years ago, when I stopped dyeing my hair.

Not because I was finally "ready to go gray," but because my body was in crisis. Autoimmune issues were unraveling my health, my resilience, my life—and I realized I could no longer justify pouring toxins on my scalp just to chase a color that no longer belonged to me.

But here's the truth:

I was scared.

Scared I'd look dull.

That my skin tone would clash.

That I'd look "old"—or worse, wrong.

And then I had this flash of insight, one I've never forgotten:

Nature doesn't screw up color.

If my hair turned white, silver, or wild-stripe gray—it wasn't an error.

It was right.

It was the truest thing about me in that moment.

Like a tiger lily beside Queen Anne's lace. Like purple loosestrife against the blue of the bachelor's button.

Too bold? Maybe.

Too much? Perhaps.

But never wrong.

And so I let it grow.

And what emerged was not bland, or aging, or mismatched.

What emerged was astonishing.

White streaks, silver smoke, moonlight strands—I had become a landscape.

So What Does This Have To Do With Violin?

Everything.

I work with adult learners who are terrified that their playing is "too this" or "not enough of that."

• Their tone feels raw.

• Their phrasing feels off.

• Their bow shakes.

• The vibrato stutters.

• They think: It must be me. I must be broken.

But here's what I want you to know:

Your sound is not a mistake.

If your phrasing cracks open with emotion—good.

If your tone catches in the throat like a whisper—good.

If your tempo slows down in the middle of a memory—yes.

If you play a note you didn't mean, but it somehow feels truer than what was written?

That's the meadow speaking through you.

You are not here to sound like a machine.

You're here to sound like you.

So this is your reminder:

Nature doesn't screw up color.

And your sound is nature, too.

Let it come.

Let it bloom.

Let it clash and stretch and shine.

Because you, dear one, are not in the business of being correct.

You're in the practice of becoming real.

And your sound begins to match your soul?

That's Violinwise.