On Redefining Myself

The last two years have been some of the most significant years of my life. Leaving a lucrative career in higher education administration to become an artist was unsettling and scary, even though I knew it was the right path for me. Yet I have never had any doubts or wavered in my faith that I am now living my life as it was meant to be lived.

Nevertheless, it occasionally has been challenging to redefine myself in my own mind after years of identifying in other ways, even if those turned out to be a poor fit. Mostly, it is difficult to call myself “artist” when that was never something that was a part of me during all of my formative, adolescent, or adult years until recently. It isn’t that I don’t believe I am an artist. I do and I am. It merely is taking time for the word to feel familiar, like wearing a new tailor-made dress. It fits and it is for me, but it is still new.

I came across a quote recently that is helping break the chains to the past and begin my turn into the future.

"Stop talking yourself out of opportunities because you don't feel like you're "ready" yet. It's time. You're ready now."