It never ends, there are always new beginnings. I believe that’s a wonderful, good thing. Beginnings offer opportunities, chances, experiences. Room for growth, trial and error, discovery.

And now is the time for another new beginning for me, with this blog. I’ve been having this writing itch for a while now but felt like I was still searching for how I wanted to scratch it. Instagram captions are not enough, I knew that. Back to blogging? But what about? What do I, an illustrator just a year into her freelance career, have to offer?

And yesterday it clicked. Thanks to one of the many artists I look up to, Josie Lewis (she also has a great way with metaphors and I love me some good metaphors!). She wrote an Instagram post about how we need to break through barriers and do the work, to get the creative life we want/need/crave. How that barrier can be fear. I replied with:

It is all hard work. It really is. I need to remind myself of that and that that is also the reason why it’s ok to need a break and recharge every now and then. Because the creative path isn’t a stroll through a calm meadow but trekking through rough terrain in all sorts of weather with no clear path ahead of you. But the most wonderful sights and discoveries along the way.

To which Josie replied:

oh my gosh this is exactly the picture i have! The creative practice is boldering!

And something clicked in my head. As if I didn’t realize fully what I just wrote and how exactly it described my experience so far until her response. Well with my non-existent sense of balance bouldering is a horrible idea, but let’s settle on trekking. I’ll write another post on that specific choice later. For now her post reminded me of how it really is hard work, doing the thing you love. How vulnerable it makes you to turn what is part of you into a business. To throw it out into this hard world. Expose it to the elements. You don’t get a map, no one’s walked your route ahead before you. And how it is mostly fear that’s been keeping me from just writing. Time to go through that barrier and begin.

At the same time I realized how much I’ve always liked reading about those parts of the stories of other fellow creators. Sure I like reading about their succeses and seeing their beautiful work too. But what really adds something for me, what actually helps, is reading about the ups and downs, finding one’s path, tripping and getting going again, feeling lost but rediscovering your own guiding star(s). And if the stories of other people can help me, I’m sure my story has value as well. So here I go, putting even more of me out there.

Because I believe that being open is key to many great things. To creativity, to community, to finding your voice, to finding your people.

It’s scary, yes. Mostly I’m excited!

A new beginning.