Hot air balloon : my creative journey

I'm taking Creative Courage e-course again this year. This is the third session I took with Stephanie Levy. Last year I already talked about how much I gained from the class and I think I gain even more from this third session.  In this class, the core idea is still the same, to have courage to be yourself and brave enough to venture into your own creative track.  Stephanie has made it lighter with the addition of summer recipes and photo walks. What makes me think I gain even more is the participation of the fellow students. I have been following conversations in the class facebook group and just discovered that while learning about other people's experiences, I instinctively explore my own inner self too.

One of the interesting topics Stephanie talked in the class is the metaphor of hot air balloon. Being in a creative journey, we need a lot of energy and effort. Hope, love, determination and support from the ones we love are essential fuel to get the balloon fly. But the hot air balloon is not small. It's big, enormous and needs a lot of energy. We have to learn so much about what could get our balloon go up as well as what has held the balloon down. Doubt, fear, criticism are always what we can identify but cannot get rid of completely. They are sandbags that hold down the balloon. I think in this case, it's all about focus. We will be constantly held down with flashes of fear, doubt and inner critic/ people's opinions, no way to avoid that. The trick is how to get ourselves back from those distractions and focus on what we want to focus.

My practice is to check myself. Whenever I feel down, doubtful or hurt, I will ask myself if these feeling are going to get me to my goal. If it's not why do I have to waste my time? There are plenty of things to do in my life plan. Ditch it and get going!

Again, it's easier said than done :P Sometimes I just wonder why some people (like  the old me) love to dwell in sadness rather than try to be happy. No answer to that but when I cannot let bad feelings go immediately, my second method is to imagine the time when I felt joy while making art or even daydream of the day of my success like ; my Etsy sale number gets over 1,000 or my art gets featured on famous blogs or magazines or my name is on a picture book's cover, etc. This may sound silly but it definitely lifts up my spirit and the only way to make those dreams come true is to work hard. So, I work!

Yes, it's only the matter of using focus, persistence and joy of creating as fuel for your hot air balloon of creative journey. Thanks to Stephanie for teaching this valuable lesson.

I hope I can stick with my methods and hope it can be helpful for those who are in this same struggling path :) Thanks for coming. I hope you have a merry day.

Fear revisited and my etsy about page

After a lot of thinking, fussing, preparing and thinking again (too much), I finally went back to my etsy shop which had been put on hold for about six months. I walked (virtually) around my shop thinking which part I would adjust, which items I would maintain. I had already did an adjustment on shop banner (the girl with the balloons really enchanted me). Changed my profile and added the shop about page. I made sure that all the billing and credit card details were in check and then suddenly I was afraid.

It's just like that. Fears can come to you at any time. I was fearful what if something wrong with my account, there might be some bugs on my Paypal, my items photos might not be good enough. Maybe I cannot interact with my future customers properly, what about shipping problems and so on.

Sometimes I really hate my imagination...

But I know in my heart that I need to do this. I MUST make it happen! Then I thought of a very good quote I got from Creative Courage e-class. It says :

Sit down and take action. The only way you can overcome fears is through action.

So, I did. I sat down and began drafting my items' descriptions.

The shop is not open yet but if you are interested you can view my about page here >> http://www.etsy.com/shop/MerryDay/about/

I really like the photo slides section. Etsy has just added this feature to their system. I think it's really a great way to tell the story of shop owner. I hope you like it too and I would be very grateful if you could give feedback about this page.

Thank you for coming. Have a merry day!

Pavinee

With the Line of Fear in between...

I woke up this morning thinking about my creative life.

Some days ago someone on my facebook feed said hello to her first day of creative life. She had been working in illustration field for some time already but I guess not in a way she wanted it to be. I think I understand what she felt when she wrote the status. I think about myself and realize I am still standing in between two worlds.

Last year I made a decision to put all my focus to my MerryDay brand. It's really in an initial step but I feel the need to make it official at least to me. I changed my career status on my facebook profile from 'freelance graphic designer and illustrator' to 'creator of MerryDay'. Such a silly and unnecessary small step but it has a huge effect on me. I reduce my freelance job and concentrate more on my drawings for my MerryDay.

I thought I was not afraid but maybe I still am. It's funny. Freelance job is not a stable job but the fact that I know for sure how much I would earn when I have a project seems more comfortable than making art which you love but not sure if it's going to sell. Like I said above, I am still standing one leg in my somewhat secure world, the other in my love-but-yet-unknown future with the line of fear in between.

Will I pull my other leg back? You know for sure I won't and I guess that's a good news. What I need to do now is to find strength to cross the line and stand strong in my challenging world.

I know there are so many of you out there who are afraid of something but still want to take a risk anyway. It would be wonderful if you leave a comment of your experience here :)

I have already written a draft about what I'm working on and will post it here very soon.  If you want to know how my creative journey goes, you can follow me through my MerryDay fan page. That's where I am most of the time.

Thank you for dropping by.  I hope you have a merry day :D