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Honor your inner artist.

I've been digging around the dusty corners of my hard drive and ran across this post from Simpology blogger Bean Jones from November 08 about his cousin Robbie, his mom's plea to talk some sense into him and his family's belief is that to quit a "grown-up job" in order to be "creative" is nutty.

He reminded me of Julia Cameron, and her influence on me early on. The idea of the Morning Pages and the Artist Date have helped keep me sane.

Based on her work, here's some advice to the cousin Robbies of the world who want to make the leap:
1. Name your fears.
Jot down any anxieties you feel about pursuing a creative career or project.
Put your worries on paper

Confront them

Move past them.


Sounds easy, right? Hence step 2.

2. Get a coach and a cheerleader.
Find a positive listener who is able to help you see
other more practical and
the seemingly wildly impractical perspectives
and beyond
without judgement.
Tell them what you need from them.

3. Do it whenever you can.
This doesn't have to be all or nothing.
You can have the best of both worlds.
Find time for your creative pursuits.

Build it into your month, then your week, then your day...

but build it, they will come.


Bottom line, be happy at what you do.
Whether it works out or not makes no difference, as long as you give it your best shot.

If you don't play, you can't win.
And for those who want to tap their inner artist without much risk of being the topic of the family grapevine, check out Julia Cameron and be sure to check out the Artist Way Online and the Tools Page. Good stuff.

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