April 15, 2009

Recovery from the sagging mood!

I don't know what was wrong with me yesterday. Good grief, but I was a whiner! One of my best friends (and the funniest woman I know) called me on her way home from work yesterday. That's all it took to kick me in the fanny, get me laughing and alter my mood. We talked about the challenges with leaving a great job with non-stop interaction with a LOT of people, to quiet days home alone with the TV on in the background for company. This was followed by afternoons with an argumentative teen, and I finally just hit a wall. When Deb and I tell each other the stories of the day about our kids and spouses, we can laugh (and make fun of them to crack ourselves up), and put life back in perspective. I always told my husband that working at a hospital for eight years put life in perspective, and I had lost track of that for a while. Thank God for girlfriends!

Then my wonderful husband came home after yet another thirteen hour day of million mile an hour hard work, poured me a glass of wine, and sat down to encourage me to become more confident in my art, to take classes so that I could meet more of "my peoples" and spend time with others with passion for creativity, and to stop feeling so compelled to keep a spotless house when there was an empty studio. How many people have that luxury these days? My husband encouraged me for months to be OK with leaving my office job so that I could enjoy exploring creativity. There are no words to express my gratitude for his generosity of spirit and his support. I am a very lucky woman.

So today I am making some art-driven decisions:

1) Establish studio time every day;
2) Play with art materials every day without adding the pressure to create a masterpiece;
3) Continue to refuse to incorporate any pointy hats, crowns, wings or bird-in-a-cage images in my artwork (no offense to those who do, but I just can't add myself to the list!);
4) Blog without whining. I can have emotions other than perky, but I can't just whine.

I think that's a good start.