Art as a way of life

It took me years to get to my creative self. I had day jobs I couldn’t stand, careers I tried to squeeze myself into that made my soul ache, and no real clue how to get to life I knew I wanted to lead. Then, I got some skills. I learned how to live within my means (on my cash) with a five-minute-a-day simple structure. I downsized my expenses so I could spend more time on art, and got a day job (teaching yoga) that I could live with. Then I started to dig in: I wanted art, and writing, and music and travel in my life. And I didn’t want to feel like I had to make a million bucks to do it. So I began. I started painting in our living room with a big piece of canvas attached to the wall, and explored. I started writing books by writing an hour a day four days a week. Music was calling, too, so I found a local recording school for technicians and starting recording for free. I began to see that nothing was stopping me from having a creative life. That I really could live the way I want to live if I just began to take some steps. Not all at once, mind you, but just a little at a time. And now, a bit down the road from those days when I didn’t know how to find a creative life, I have one. And it’s amazing to have one. That’s what I’m trying to share in my new book, “How to Be an Artist Without Losing Your Mind, Your Shirt, or Your Creative Compass.” That there is a way to live for our artistry, and we don’t have to have a trust fund or a mega-stash of cash to get there. We can do this — simply, easily and humbly — a day at a time, and explored art form at a time. And when we do — when we give ourselves the permission to try to have a creative life — our heart, soul and body opens up to a whole new world of falling in love with our life.