I wasn’t going to make a New Year’s Resolution this year. Over the decades, I’ve already attempted the obvious ones – where I’ll lose weight, make my first million, find the love of my life, quit my day job, become an artist. (I did manage to achieve the last two, and the rest…..well, they’re still in progress!)
Now that I’m older and somewhat wiser, I’ve learned that I no longer need to wait until the magical date of January 1st to look at what doesn’t work in my life and then “resolve” to change over the next twelve months. We all know what often happens to good intentions made under the influence of too much champagne……
So I had decided not to make any particular resolutions for the coming year.
But then my Artist Mind got involved and decided that the problem wasn’t the concept of New Year’s Resolutions per se, it was that the resolutions themselves generally weren’t any fun. No wonder we all drink on New Year’s Eve! Who really wants to face beginning The Diet, or packing for The Big Move, or leaving an 18-year career, even if it’s for something better in the long run?
The Artist in me prefers something creative and juicy. A resolution that will make my soul sing and my spirit soar. One that will inspire me to jump enthusiastically out of bed in the morning to seize the day and send me to bed at night with a grateful heart.
And my Artist came up with this absolutely luscious idea:
Rather than looking at what I’d like to change in my life, I’m going to take this year to CELEBRATE who I already am! I’m celebrating my Artist self and I’m going to do it every day for the next 365 days.
Here’s why: The creative mind is often misunderstood and generally underappreciated in our contemporary Western society. It hurts my ears when the word, “starving” is used in the same sentence as the word, “artist” even before the income question has been answered. I’ve seen artists described as weird, crazy and promiscuous. We are supposed to be perennially broke, unreliable, and depressed control freaks incapable of commitment. (OK, I’ll admit to being somewhat of a control freak).
Nasty stereotypes aside, the life of an artist is not without certain challenges. And I’ve lived through most of them. But I’ve met hundreds of wonderful, talented artists from around the world who don’t fit any of those categories on a full-time basis.
So I’m going to take this next year to not only explore what’s GREAT about living life as an artist, but every morning for the next 365 days, I’m going to begin my day by writing them down, one by one. Hopefully I won’t come up with any of that airy-fairy “dancing naked in the moonlight” kind of stuff. But then again, so what if I do?
Now that I think of it, 365 is a whole lot of positive things. Maybe I’ll run out after a week. Then again, perhaps there are more good things about being an artist than I can imagine right at this moment. At any rate, I’ll post the best ones throughout the year, and maybe we can all celebrate together.
It’s a seemingly simple task but when shared, it has the potential to power great things. I think it’s time all of us artists and creatives stand up and show the world just how fabulous we can be – and how we are vibrant and necessary members of our local and global communities.
I’ll definitely post what I come up with tomorrow for Number 1……and I think some of my artist friends may be joining me on a few of these posts……
Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s a glass of champagne with my name on it……
The 365 Days Project
In 2012, Serena Kovalosky committed to writing an article a day for 365 days as an exploration into the lives of artists and the value of creative thinking in our society.
Experience the full evolution of the project! Click below to read the entire collection of articles.
Leave a Reply