In ‘ The Likeness’, Irish mystery writer Tana French writes, “It’s amazing how stubbornly things survive against incredible odds; how irresistibly strong it is, the drive to live and grow.”
I’ve been mindful of that drive a lot lately. It is amazing. It has shown itself over the last few months as people have fought for their lives through COVID19.
On a much less dramatic and serious scale, what has propelled me, after so many years of refusing to sell my artwork, to flip that switch and put myself out there? It has a lot to do with that desire to open up to life. To embrace what’s in me and around me. To grow.
The fear is still there. Oh yes. The resistance? Check. So what got me to today?
Encouragement is a powerful thing. Awhile ago I came across the story of Carmen Herrera, who sold her first artwork at the age of 89. Imagine a life spent painting, unseen and solitary. And then to be called “the find of the decade” in 2009. Imagine what that felt like.
Or how about a headline like this, written in 2017: “Why Old Women Have Replaced Young Men As The Art World’s Darlings.“ Oh, be still my heart.
There is something very empowering about those stories. I’m not an old woman by any means, but they gave me courage, as stories often do. They stuck to me. And became part of me.
So when a creative business course on the Jeanne Oliver network popped up on my radar, I was ready.
If you feel unprepared to live out your own dream, listen for the stories that empower you. Collect them. And when you’re ready, embrace the life that’s in you and live out that dream, no matter what your age or circumstance.
More to come...