Getting Wiser

I've started walking again ~ if you don't remember how much I love that, click here.

Anyway, when I walk in the morning, my brain likes to come up with new things to do (NOT becuz there's not enough to do already) and lately it's been dwelling a lot on things I've learned in life as well as things I wish I'd learned earlier.

So I decided to start a blog about that very thing:  Getting Older . . .  Getting Wiser?

I'd love to have lots of guest posts so
please contact me if you have some words of wit or wisdom to share
or if you have a good story about a lesson learned.
 

Vision

This morning I was looking thru my old poetry to find something to write on a current collage when the vision of my life just crystallized perfectly AGAIN in my head. 

As with so many of you, it is my dream and my ambition to be a full time artist.  But is it what God wants for me?  Did He open my eyes this morning or was I just wishing?  To pursue the dream seems so very selfish (after all, this isn't as noble as MLK's dream!) yet I know I'm better to people when I'm following this path.

Here's what the above journal page says:

I saw again the vision

Of how my life should be

Of how the art flowed from me onto paper, canvas

Of words and paper

Of timeless, no, time-free immersion in my art

Of a life spent as I've spent only moments until now

Of being me all the time, unencumbered by financial constraints & concerns

Of me loving & living my best

Of being a temporary vessel allowing art & words

             to flow thru me

hmmmm, maybe I'll go write that on this art piece

Fear

On my last post, I talked about change and its best buddy, fear.

Now I just want to give you some encouragement if you're contemplating making a change and your stuck because of fear:

Don't wait until the fear goes away before you act -
act until the fear goes away.

Please don't think I'm being glib or unrealistic or foolish. I decided to go for it with my art but I didn't just quit my day job and risk raising my kids in a cardboard box. As a matter of fact, it was years before I could quit my full-time job, then awhile longer until I could transition my part-time jobs into contract work, and it could still be another 9 months or twelve years before I can stop doing accounting altogether.

So, what I am encouraging you to do is to think it through:

1. What is my fear?  Name it.
   - Are you afraid you'll be embarassed?  Um.  So?  Okay, THAT was glib.  But really, it's not like you're having a wardrobe malfunction onstage at the Super Bowl.  If embarrassment is your fear, then just be very careful  who you tell - or tell no one.
   - Are you afraid you'll fail?  You've heard about Thomas Edison and his 3000 attempts to find a filament.  Failing often breeds better ideas.
2. Where did this fear come from?
   - Is that just me hearing mean old so-n-so again?  We often play these tapes over-and-over in our heads because some kid in third grade or a cruel teacher or, worst of all, a bad parent told us we weren't good enough or we were stupid or some other judgment based more in their problems than on anything we did.  Do we really want to give him/her/them control over our current life? 
   - Or, maybe it's your gut telling you something isn't quite right.  Then research it a little more (I'm a firm believer in listening to your natural instincts.).
3. Is it a valid fear?  Could this actually happen? 
   - Am I really incompetent?  Be honest.  Shut off the tapes and evaluate the situation and your abilities, time availability, energy level, etc. 
   - What is the absolute worst thing that could happen and could I live with it? Don't exagerate either. Again, be honest.  I think you'd be surprised how much easier it is to do without material goods (not basic food & shelter, obviously) when you're doing what you love.  That's why they have to pay you more to work for jerks than to work for nice people. 
4. Can I address/resolve any valid issues/concerns? Seriously, is there really a true possiblity that you cannot find a way thru or around this obstacle given enough time or effort?  I am willing to bet you can find someone to help you in exchange for your help at something (quid pro quo makes the business world go around).  Maybe your ideas dovetail with someone else's.  Maybe your spouse is ready for you to finally be happy and will do anything to make your dreams come true (yay for my hubby who feels this way).
5. Make a plan.  Man.  This step alone is a biggie.  Jessica Howard has a time management post and her step three fits here: Make a map and keep following it. I'll just advise that you think of everything you can and then be flexible.  New things will be thrown at you.  Good things.  Bad things.  Boring things. Adjust the plan.
6. And then, to throw one more quote at you - probably one you've heard the most:
   
   "Just Do It!" - Nike™

The artwork today is by Sylvia Drown. I "met" Sylvia in Kelly Rae Roberts online class, FLYING LESSONS, where we talked a lot about facing our fears. I couldn't believe how perfectly the quote on here dovetailed with my post and I am very excited to now own this piece.

Change

I think I may have mentioned that I'm currently making a lot of changes, in several areas of my life (my online presence, my art-business, my career - not to mention my youngest will graduate college soon so my empty nest will be even more empty).

Change itself doesn't scare me - as you can tell by the 83 gazillion hair-styles I have had (I'm having another birthday this week.  However, I want to be sure that no one will ever be able to tell how old I am because I wear a hairstyle that screams which decade I went to high school or college!!  hehe) or the number of times I rearrange the furniture.

But the ramifications of change can be paralyzing.  Hair grows out.  Furniture can be moved again.  But quitting your day job to pursue your art?!?!?  Are you nuts?  What if you don't sell anything and you end up living in a cardboard box?  What if you sell so much that you can't keep up with demand?  Okay, that last one is not one I've actually had, but you get the idea: 

the thought of change invokes fear.

A fellow artist-blogger wrote about this today.  The fact that she was able to step out of her fear long enough to throw it out into the world says a lot about how much she really wants to make this change.

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the Triumph over it. The brave man is not one who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." - Nelson Mandela

"Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." - T.S. Eliot

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepset fear is that we are powerful beyond measure...We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you NOT to be? Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same." - Marianne Williamson

When I post next time, I'll write more about facing our fears.

Dream Big

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I'm taking Kelly Rae Roberts' online class FLYING LESSONS. Well, between that, reorganizing the studio and ongoing new-house projects, I am OVERWHELMED!!! It takes so much time just to do the reading, let alone the implementing!

But the class is full of great tips on growing an art business. And that really is my goal.  To make a living with my art - maybe thru licensing, maybe just selling originals, teaching some classes, maybe having a book.  So yesterday I did a journal page reflecting those big dreams. (We've been talking about copyright in class so I have to say I have no idea what magazine I got this image from - it was already torn up - and I don't think I've altered it very much. I hope since it's for my art journal I'm in the clear but...)

Also, I'm going to attend THE CREATIVE CONNECTION EVENT in September. Are any of you going? I sure would like to meet up with someone I "know" ~ Sherry

Courage

Since I shared a piece of art about it taking courage to create yesterday, I thought I'd share a couple of things related to courage with you today.

The first is that I'm taking an online class. I've never done it before becuz I know my learning style is "group discussion" as opposed to "lecture" or "reading". Not that I don't learn from those things, it's that I don't learn as well those ways (I personally LOVE to read).

But I decided to take this class because, well, I'm getting honest here, I want to grow my art business. My accounting career is at a point where I'm very flexible right now, but, honestly, I would like to not have to do it at all. In order to get to the point where we don't need my income from that we have downsized our house and almost entirely eliminated the debt monster. So now it's time to grow the business. YIKES! That's scary!!

I don't know how to market myself (fear of rejection?) or otherwise promote my business so I'm taking a class from a successful artist who has done that very thing, Kelly Rae Roberts. I do believe it's going to be a full-time job attending this class but I think it will be useful. Hmmm. Today's lesson is about blogging - maybe I should have read it before writing this long-winded post?

The second thing I want to share is an amazing video. This is something I've never done before but I feel like I have to spread this message. It's not about art or business or marriage but you can relate it to those things. She doesn't give a HOW-TO BE HAPPY speech (she'll tell you why) but talks about the things that get in the way of joy. It touches on what seems like everything - courage, shame, joy, perfectionism, self-worth, authenticity, vulnerability, more.

You should watch it when you aren't rushed - not just cuz it's lengthy but becuz it's so thought provoking

You can read more at Brene's blog, ORDINARY COURAGE.
Thanks for stopping by ~ Sherry

Monday, Monday

New Year, Same Problem: too much to do, too little time.

It's only the first Monday of the new year and I already feel overwhelmed!

As I've mentioned, I just moved. And I can't seem to get everything unpacked - including my studio which I desperately want to have done so I can finish some art SOON.

Sure there are excuses: Thanksgiving, Christmas, blizzard, travel to Albuquerque, upset stomachs (me), sore backs from shoveling snow & falling on ice (Patrick), too much time surfing the web and watching TV, blah, blah, blah.
Need I go on?

The other day I wrote about selecting one word as a goal for the year. Forget it. I'm going to just take it one day at a time.

Today I've got five things on my to-do list - well, since two of them are related to a charm bracelet order, I'll say I've got four things I WILL accomplish today.

Wish me luck ~ Sherry