My Creative Journey
Making Growth my focus for 2021 means I need to have a good understanding of what my current reality is so that I have reference to look back on. I believe the only way to see any substantial growth in my creative journey is by being transparent and admitting to all my failures and success.
I am currently in my third attempt to start a creative journey. This blog post is about my last two attempts and lessons I learned from them.
1st attempt
This urge to start a creative journey started in the first round of quarantine (May 2020ish) in Austin, Texas. As a phlebotomist, it wasn’t an option for me to work from home but also not safe to have direct contact with patients that might have Covid-19. I decided I needed to develop my creative skills to be able to work from home. Sine I’ve always enjoyed to doodle I decided I would create a brand and sell products/services through this brand. That’s the beginning of Reibert-Anthony.
I created art that was made for Print on Demand. I started a Teespring Store (Teespring.com/Reibert-Anthony) and Redbubble Store (Reibert-Anthony.redbubble.com). I was excited to see my illustrations on a product. I ended up buying some of the products myself. After a couple months of updating the websites, adjusting prices, creating mock ups, watching YouTube videos on how to grow and promoting my products on social media, I burnt out. I realized I was not adding value to my life this way and I was not adding value to other people.
2nd attempt
Although burnt out, I was not discouraged from creating art. Around the beginning of 2021 I started creating Illustrations for books I was interested in reading. I decided I would make a blog post along with my illustrations. Out of the 12 books I had set out to read I only read and illustrated 4 (you can read those old blogs here). This time I was burnt out by all the work I was giving myself. I wasn’t able to keep up with my new creative routine and maintain my 9-5 job, work out routine and a healthy sleep schedule. Now I had a new dilemma, I had come up with a solution for adding value to my life and to others but now could not keep a balanced life that kept all my responsibilities done.
3rd attempt
At first there was shame. Shame for feeling burnt out and stuck, for a third time. I had to think back on what my true intentions are with creating art. The truth is, I am burnt out in the medical field and am ready to have a creative journey. To start my third attempt at a meaningful creative journey I will find my style and become involved in the creative community. I will share my process of leaving the medical field for a creative journey through my art style.
Final Thoughts
In my first attempt in my creative journey I was trying to figure out how to make enough money to leave the medical field but I eventually learned that if I focus on the money side of my journey then I will not enjoy the journey. In my second attempt I tried to imitate value by using published books to create my illustrations. I eventually learned that imitating value is not fulfilling and it makes more sense to provide value from my own experiences instead of basing it off what other have lived through.
