I understand. I really do. If you feel like you can’t draw. If you go through all those tutorials and keep trying for a while, months even and can’t learn that one thing you really wanted to and consider yourself a failure and want to give up. If people give you those strange looks and ask “what is that? I don’t get it” when they see your creations. If you feel like you don’t have those skills, talents and experience to do art professionally. If you love painting and yet don’t feel confident of putting it out in the world. If your fear, self- doubt is nagging you and you keep making excuses not to create. If you say “I don’t have the time or money to do art. I don’t want to be one of those broke starving people.” If you think you can’t become a real artist and constantly compare yourself to the high skilled fancy world class artists out there. I feel you. I do. You know why? Cause I have been there. Done that. I mean, I still go through some of these things today.
You know what? It’s not easy being an artist and living your dream. The struggle is real. It takes a lot of hard work, effort, energy, time, money, pain even. It takes years to get where you want to be. But you know what? It takes the same things to build a life with that alternative career you choose instead of becoming a creator. Those feelings I described above you can and will face them in the other job you do too. Both paths are tough.
There is a difference though. This difference is how I knew art will be my career and not communication. How despite deciding to do art on the side and have a real proper career where I actually earn money and have a good life, I firmly decided and told everyone that I am going to be an artist. No matter what. Come what may. Because I may have led a good life if I chose another career, but not the best life as I am currently drawing, painting and doing mixed media. Because creativity is the way I can be the truest most authentic version of myself, the most real way I can connect with the world.
Here’s the difference if you choose your dream path. Because it is your calling. Because you have that uniqueness, that magic that no one else has to lead and inspire people in that field. Because you are serving people with your highest possible potential. Because no matter how much you ignore it, it keeps following you. No matter how much you push it away, it is all around you everywhere you look, think and feel. If you choose to do what you love more than anything else in the world, it will be fun. You will spend each and every day doing what you truly enjoy, getting one step closer to your fantasy every move you make. You will be happy and much more willing to face those struggles and difficulties because you chose the path that will take you forward towards the life you want to live.
So which hard will you choose? The good life or the best life? The alternative career or the dream career? I recommend the latter.