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Well, first blog post....underway! I'm new to this website and community, but the best way to draw interest and activity is to be active and creative, right? Well, that's what I think! So here we go. It's October 1...a new month, a new season, and a BUNCH of new opportunities have already been thrown my way. The only thing that's not new about October 1...is the week. It's Friday, and let me tell you...TGIF. Really.
It's always been a "silly dream" of mine to be able to ditch the 9-5 world and create artwork full time as my career. The dreamer in me would have loved to go to college, take nothing but art classes and "create" for the rest of my life, but the practical, mature, adult side of me (well, as mature and adult as anyone can be at 18 years old) decided to go to college, get my Bachelors Degree, and enter the crazy 9-5 world of business that was really meant for "left brained people." (That's just a matter of opinion of course, but hey, it is what it is.) For a few years since college, I've really struggled to settle into a place long enough to feel that what I was doing was truly a career choice. Between lay-offs, unemployment, horrible bosses, pathetic jobs and not enough pay, I've never really been happy in the corporate world. Sure, it pays the bills...well, most of them...but it involves zero passion, zero creativity and absolutely zero freedom to change. The job I have at this very moment (where I'm blogging from, actually) has been a blessing and a curse. A blessing in the fact that I work part time hours, allowing me ample time to create and be inspired before the sun goes down and my brain is too tired from a long day of work. It allows me a fairly "brain-free" day of working at a desk, which gives my imagination time to dream up what piece I'll be working on when I return home and can get my hands on my materials. It's a curse in the fact that it's what I truly depend on to pay my bills, keep my income flowing and give me stability. It's what I HAVE to depend on to avoid selling my home, car, and giving up on art completely. However, in the middle of this "blessing versus curse" battle, I've recently found a happy medium. With communities like this, facebook and my own personal website, I've been able to balance business and art...and even throw my fitness career back on track. It's surely not ideal (having 3 jobs never is!) but it's finally balanced. And in comes October...and I already have decisions to make.
Within the last week, I've had two major opportunities thrown my way. With the artwork, I can't really say too much about WHAT the opportunity will be, but let's just say that if it works out the way I'm hoping, I might finally be able to be a full-time artist. On the other hand, I received a full-time offer at my current job. It's basically a promotion, ensuring me full-time hours, benefits and a "career path," which would be great if I decided that this was the route I want to take. The up side to this offer: full time hours, benefits, salaried pay (or at least a consistent paycheck), room for growth, and a major resume boost. The down side: less time to focus on my art, fitness and music (my true passions) and less free time to focus my brain elsewhere. So it's decision time. Not today and maybe not even this week, but sometime this month, I really have to make a decision. Do I stick with the corporate job that I don't really enjoy but offers me dependability, stability, medical benefits and everything that's "smart?" Or do I turn down the promotion, allowing myself the free time to create? Or (and this would be ideal) do I wait it out and see what happens with this artistic opportunity before I give an answer and then say no if the art offer is a yes...therefore jeopardizing this job offer by frustrating them and making them wait?
Decisions....decisions.
Until I decide....it's painting time! :) Happy Friday everyone.
