I’ve always been envious of Emily Starr’s singular focus on her Alpine Path. Her one true passion was writing, and she always knew what she wanted to achieve.
My creative endeavors are more… varied.
I’ll gather up a handful to paint a picture for you.
I have…
drafted novels, thrown pots, directed plays, painted landscapes, photographed weddings, cross stitched samplers, planted gardens, made mosaics, designed websites, produced short films, dipped candles, made flower crowns, designed logos, stage managed, blogged, vlogged, danced en pointe, painted posters, designed gravestones, baked cakes, bound books, sewn pockets, developed my own photographs, scrapbooked, acted, silk screened, written for a magazine, learned Irish step dancing, embroidered hoops, written plays & performed puppetry…
The list goes on.
Next I want to learn to play the ukulele, crochet & needlefelt.
University was a beautiful time of reckless curiosity for me. I studied anything that sparked my interest, even taking classes that didn’t count toward my degrees.
After earning my masters I started a photography business, and told myself that any other creative projects were a waste of time.
I continually make the mistake of trying to “specialize.”
Telling myself that I have to choose one art form and practice it exclusively. Even so, my focus shifted from photography to cinematography to blogging to vlogging to sticker making…
I clearly lack the ability to stick to one specific thing.
Each time I told myself that my new passion would be “it.”
Then, about a year ago, I made the tough decision to close down my business. It was incredibly freeing. I made discoveries about my creative process, improved my mental health, and realized I had developed a thryoid problem that was draining a lot of my energy. I was able to slow down and take care of me.
I’ve had a bit of a rebirth this year. I’m feeling more myself than I have since my years in college.
I chose “create” as my word for 2017, which quickly transformed into “dabble” inspired by Becca Piastrelli and her creative sisterhood. Instead of creating products I began to kindle my curiosity.
After a year of creating just to create I’ve realized that I’m never going to find a single art form that defines my identity as an artist. So I’ve stopped searching for it.
