Thursday, March 24, 2011

my big mistake

"The biggest mistake people make in life is not trying to make a living at doing what they most enjoy."
That's a quote from Malcolm Forbes. Now I don't really know anything about Malcolm Forbes, other than that he was a publisher.
But the sadness I feel at reading this sentence tells me that I'm one of the people he's talking about.

For quite a few years working as a graphic designer did satisfy my soul.
Then I got this overwhelming desire to make art that satisfied me, rather than a client, so I quit.
I've made art and sold art while I've raised my kids, and for a large portion of that time I had the support of a spouse. Now that I'm still raising my kids as a single mother I find myself at the "day job". I've never really had what I considered to be a day job before - I've always worked in the arts - and the disconnect I feel from my aspired-to creative life is, on some days, numbing.

I ask myself on a daily basis - how do I keep doing this, day to day?

But really, the question I need to be asking is "How do I shift to doing what I love for a living?"

Doing something creative each day helps. Practicing yoga helps. Meditating helps. Using my art as therapy helps. Airing things out with friends and co-workers helps. It's not all the way there but it's a start. And the cool thing is that the more honest I am, the more my mind opens up to new possibilities.
Do I want to make a major move? Could I consider it? Can I imagine and accept feeling totally supported by the universe in my desires?
I don't have the answers yet. But I do have some ideas, and some new openings in my brain that are receptive to other ideas - and that's a start. Stay tuned.

Joann Tomsche 3/24/11

1 comment:

  1. I think there is our creative drive, and I also think there is survival drive. Sometimes the two drives are met in a singular activity. Sometimes they are not. I think when we are able to make time to be creative whether it generates income or not is what satisfies our desire to BE creative. Making a living cannot always be done in these economic times doing the thing we love, sometimes taking care of those we love requires us to do the "hard" things.

    ReplyDelete