This Is For The Artist

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The next time it’s 1:15 in the afternoon and you’re staring mindlessly at your desk, wondering how the hell you got to this point in your life, I want you to write down everything you’ve ever done in your life that brought you joy. I want you to write down everything you ever wanted to learn more about but someone told you, “you can just do that as a hobby, that’s not a real job.” I want you to look at the list you have created, and I want you to listen to your gut.

You don’t even have to make a list. Chances are, you already know exactly what it is that sets your soul on fire and makes you feel like you. You know exactly what it is, and whether you’ve been doing it your entire life, or just picked it up in the last month, I want you to start finding ways to do that. I want the mind-numbing day job that makes you question every life choice you’ve ever made to just pay your bills while you get things rolling.

You are not meant to spend eight hours a day with a fake smile on your face. You are not meant to spend most of your day looking forward to going home and putting sweatpants on so you can marathon Netflix until you need to go to bed and do it all over again. You are a bright and shining force of light that was put on this earth to contribute something that no one else can contribute. You have an artistic mind, and a creator’s soul. You are the essence of singing along to the radio, and dancing until two in the morning. You are far more special than you could ever know, and you were put here to do so much more than just go to a job you hate until you’re old enough to retire.

The next time it’s 1:15 in the afternoon, and you sarcastically reply to your coworker that you’re “livin’ the dream,” I want you to find a way to be the person that you know somewhere inside of you that you were meant to be. Share your voice, share your art, share your music. Google local open mics. Online publishing forums. Plug your newest song on your social media. Stop being afraid of what people might think of your talent and start living for the thing that actually makes you feel like yourself. How do you know you can’t have the life you’ve always dreamt of if you’ve never tried to have it?