Inspirational Tips: Work Your Way Through the Forest and Be Sure to Leave Mile Markers

There was a time in my life when those closest to me, those I knew better than anyone, lied to me. As I look back, I realize that the lies were born from a place of love and protection. It was thought that they were necessary in order for me to feel accepted in life. However, they did some damage that begins and ends with how well I know myself.

Throughout much of my life, I tried to “hide” my writing, my art, me. I had received messages from many that it was not ok to be who I was so I decided to keep “me” in the dark. Alone, I would write and sketch for hours on end in my journals; I lived among the pages of the books I scribbled in. In that space, I was able to be, do, think and say anything I wanted. I was able to stand at the edge of my cave and look out at the fields of colorful flowers I’d painted with the crayons of my imagination. There were only a handful of folks I shared anything with; they helped to keep me from disappearing. Today, I share with a much wider audience :)

As I lived and worked amid those pages, I learned to understand and even appreciate the sound of my own voice. My “writing” and “art” voice was funny, warm, inspirational, dark, thrilling and uniquely me. For longer than I can remember I have been comfortable with its sound. Then recently, while working on a project and simultaneously working to “unlearn” certain behaviors and hiding techniques, I discovered a new piece of myself, a new avenue in which I’d like to apply my voice. I can feel myself growing and, as I do, I find I am able to come to the table with parts of myself that I have never shared.

As I ready myself to delve deeper into this project, I find I am filled with questions. It has been said that we spend our adult lives trying to unlearn the things we learned; I think there is truth to that as I have noticed that the older I get, the less I seem to know or understand. On the one hand that’s good, it means there is much more to learn and on the other it makes me feel young – so wait there are two good sides to that! As I learn or unlearn, I find myself wondering about knowing oneself and art. Does knowing yourself make your art stronger or do you think that we create art to work our way through the forest in the hopes of knowing ourselves and our world? Is the creation of art about the journey of self-discovery or the celebration of who we are? Are these idea mutually exclusive or two sides of the same coin? And is the finished product - that beautiful, completed piece of work- what we have learned or simply a representation of something we already knew and finally decided to share?

Plato said that we should never write anything down because things are always changing. He said that when we looked back at what we had created, we wouldn’t like it because everything is impermanent. Thus we would have moved forward, gained more knowledge and our former creation would be left looking like the work of an amateur, an incorrect representation of who we are or who we had become. How do you feel when you look back at something you loved when you first created it? Do you feel the same love for it?

I disagree with his theory. Though change is inevitable, I think it’s essential to our growth to create and share our creations throughout life. While I have experienced that feeling of disappointment when looking back at a piece I’d written or a work I created only to find it is not the beauty I remembered it to be, I have also looked back to find that some things I created still bring great inner joy and celebration. I think it is important to share our work as it allows us to create a living scrapbook of our creative lives. My work is almost always a journey that leaves me astounded at its end. That final creation is often a mile marker; it’s a celebration of some small piece of magic that I found along the way. I share it not to celebrate myself so much as to share a piece of my journey in the hopes that someone else will connect with it. It helps when we have people to share our hearts with; it makes life less lonely.

So, I come to you today and ask you to share your thoughts about you and art. Is your art an exploration of who you are becoming or is it a celebration of the “you” that you know inside and out right now? Is it both? Do you feel as though you are learning something new about yourself each time you create OR have you already learned something and your art is an expression of that new knowledge?