Sunday scribbles #16: Having pleasure in your journey, and a milestone in my artistic career.

The first Sunday scribbles which are actually written on a Sunday. I usually try to write this before the last day of the week, mostly on Saturdays, but yesterday though I had no time to do so. Sorry, I have to correct myself already: writing a post wasn't a priority yesterday. I am quite allergic to saying 'having no time'. It is true that yesterday was a very busy day, but in the evening I did have time to write something. Truth is that I was quite exhausted and prioritized playing some Fornite with the squad and watching Rings of Power. Combine those two activities and you'll quickly see that I had the time to write something down. After a busy day I just felt like being lazy and just hang out for some hours, which is okay. I find it important to sometimes be lazy in your journey and do whatever you feel like, be it going out with friends or staying in and watching TV. You just can't exaggerate with this. Last week I started reading the book 'Hero on a Mission: A Path to a Meaningful Life' by Donald Miller. A good friend I've known for half my life already strongly advised me this book so he lent it to me. The title actually says it all, being that you create a meaningful life for yourself. If at the end of your life you look like back with a smile on your face, with few regrets as possible, then you did a good job. It starts off with sharing the journey of the author where he turned his life around, and this is the part I want to elaborate on.

The author shares his story where in the past he always wanted to be a writer. His life though wasn't going the way he wanted. He lived in an apartment with some other guys whose lives were far better than his. This wasn't very difficult, seeing that he could have been regarded as a loser (his words, not mine). Financially he was close to living on the streets and going to shelters for food. Emotionally he wasn't in the right place as well because he did nothing. He wanted to write books, but found himself to have no inspiration. Because of having no inspiration, he wrote far less than he wanted to. He once found himself having written some good stuff in a specific chair in a public space (I think it was a Starbucks or something like it), so he always tried to sit in that chair to write. When it was taken, he would stay nearby, and just wait until the chair was free, often finding himself doing nothing but wait. The chair wasn't godlike though. His belief that the chair gave him inspiration was quite the big lie to himself. So he stumbled through life until something made him realize that if he actually wanted to write a book, he shouldn't wait for inspiration. He should just plan when he wants to write, and write during those hours he kept free for writing. And this, my friends, is where I reshare the quote I try to live by: "Inspiration seldom generates action, action always generates inspiration". His story is the perfect example of this, because once he started doing it that way, he got books published and can be regarded as successful, or in his words: meaningful (of course with failures in between, but he's doing pretty good now).

Now yesterday I did not live by this quote, and I want you to know that that is okay. You can still have moments where you slack a bit, but try to minimize them. We have to be hard on ourselves, but we should still allow ourselves to just rest or relax. Being in a good state of mind is pretty important if you ask me, and moments like that help ease your mind, at least for me. I envy people like Elon Musk, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Dwayne Johnson who are believed to work almost 24/7 in their primes, but that's not in me to do so. I enjoy some free time daily to fool around with our parrot at home, play some Fortnite with the squad or just hang out with my girl. I enjoy it so much that I just don't want to give it up to achieve some personal goals. Does this mean my goals aren't as important or as big as they should? No idea, but for me they are exactly what they should be right now. At this point I feel my life is in good balance between my regular job, my journey in becoming a respected artist and enjoying life as such. Maybe it isn't the best comparison, but right now it's a tripod which would fall if you take away one of the three legs: work, pleasure and personal growth.

In the title I also mentioned a milestone in my career. Well, yesterday I sold my first painting to a complete stranger. Woohoow, party!!! This week a woman sent me a message on Instagram asking if they could pay me a visit to see my paintings in real life. Where I would've thought I would have been beyond happy, I wasn't at first. The woman didn't have a profile picture on Instagram and I couldn't see any posts. So I thought it was a scam, no idea why. I sometimes find it hard to believe in the good of people. For long I have always imagined worst case scenarios and people are often at the center of the story. I am trying to change my thinking where I give people the benefit of the doubt, and also start to believe that there is mostly good in people. It's hard, but I'll get there. So after some messages back and forth, we planned a visit yesterday noon. She and her husband arrived, and my first thoughts couldn't have been more wrong. These were two lovely and interesting people, this woman and her husband. They actually bought one of my latest paintings, which is awesome, but I also got to show them everything and share what I do, this time in real life and not through social media. I have said this in the past, but where I thought I would have been most happy with the money I got from selling a painting, I am more happy with the feeling I got from showing them around and sharing what I do. Just talking about art, receiving feedback, and hearing their stories. It's so fun to connect with people! So yeah, yesterday was a big day for me and I am still enjoying what happened. This is also something I am working on: enjoying my victories without diminishing them, but that might be food for another post. For now I am off, enjoying the events of yesterday and creating some new paintings.

Happy Sunday!