Enjoying some pumpkin spice nectar of the year
It didn’t occur to me until I concluded the last Artist’s Way recap meetup that this course is already halfway complete! Six more of these to go. I’m mostly shocked at how fast these past six weeks sped by. Since starting this course, it’s had such a positive impact on not only my own artwork, but influenced everyone in the group and outside of our group to value our creativity. In the past six weeks, I started painting, completed two illustration zines, and revisited my old webcomic series. And those were on top of my usual monthly creative tasks of making stickers and pattern designs for my business. This course has opened my eyes to the fact that everyone’s art matters and is needed in the world. I often struggle with this concept of not valuing my art, which is highlighted as this week’s topic.
I resonated and learned so much from the concepts highligted in this chapter. Chapter 6 is called Recovering a Sense of Abundance and as someone trying to make a business from my art, it’s something I always struggled with by becoming my own worst enemy by lacking self confidence. This chapter highlights how money can be a common block for creatives in ways that include thinking money is bad or associated with having to earn it by enduring misery whether that be through a job that is toxic to us or working so much on your art business that it takes away the joy of being creative.
Chapter 6 brings up the concept of luxury by validating that we can allow ourselves simple pleasures that help us enjoy life. The concepts of luxury differ from person to person: what small indulgences to you love but often deny yourself? Is it spending slightly more money at the grocery store for strawberries? Or just something as simple as taking a walk with a family member. Overall, we need to prioritize quality time which is the true luxury.
This week’s artist date was all about having my own small sense of luxury and ordering my first (and probably only) cliche pumpkin spice-infused coffee treat of the year. Fall is here (well, it’s here starting in August for those in corporate marketing) and what better way to celebrate than with a corport pumpkin immitation slammed juice of fine fall flavors with a pumpkin spice cream cold brew from Starbucks! I had no excuse to miss getting it this week, I had a coupon for $2 off a Starbucks drink at the Safeway. You may think- hey that’s not really an artist date, you’re supposed to get out of your comfort zone. Well, I have news- believe it or not, I NEVER order from Starbucks, in fact, I get very shy and anxious about going out of my usual routine and ordering a treat from there. I don’t know why, my orders are really easy and I don’t customize anything. It has to do with your ego freaking out about anything related to change from your routine. Ego likes to keep us safe and in the same rut, so in a weird way I can see ordering a drink out of my routine being my artist date. Everything went fine, I forgot how good the pumpkin plasma foam on top of the cold brew was. They also sprinkle a hint of autumnal cozy spices on that plasma. Just a punch of fall in a cup and it didn’t taste like a craft store! I got nice and wired the rest of the day because I had that on top of my usual at-home coffee, so I can’t speak too well of how that went!