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This piece ... and burnout!

This piece has a story.  This piece also taught me a lesson.  All pieces you paint most times will give you a lesson of some kind whether you like it or not, but this one went deeper.  I originally painted this piece an aqua colour and as it sat in the corner for months on end looking at me, it just didn’t suit it … nor did I like it.  I believe colours make or break your pieces.  Colour also tells a story – remember that!  I also believe that if you look at a piece long enough, you get a feel for the best makeover style and colour choices - it’s like a piece will speak to you without speaking to you (hopefully you get that without me sounding a tad crazy lol).

 

You see, with this piece, I doubted myself and my creative side.  There is and always will be someone better than you.  It was like everything I did with regards to creativity, it felt, and it looked wrong.  I felt exhausted (life does that) and I felt like I had literally lost my painting passion.  All my zeal was gone.  Around this same time, a lot was also happening in my work, business and personal life.  That’s when I decided to let it sit and stop painting for a while until my passion and my mojo came back.  I knew I would know when that time was.  We are given a gut sensing and a knowing when things are good or off, and I’ve learnt to really listen to that inner voice and run with it.

 

In that time of laying my painting aside (which was a few months), I rested.  I stopped.  I thought things over.  I re-aligned myself.  I just chilled.  Sometimes we can be way too hard on ourselves, expecting that we can literally do it all.  We can’t.  Sometimes it feels like life and people expect way too much of us. 

 

Painting has always been an outlet for me.  It’s my therapy.  It’s my de-stressing thing.  It’s my calm.  So, after putting down my brushes for a bit and having a pause, when I looked at this piece again, I just “knew” what I was going to do and so I started with this piece again.  Only this time, I didn’t pressure myself that it was another piece I had to complete.  I didn’t pressure myself that I only have this allocated amount of time to do this.  I didn’t pressure myself that I must do this, and I must do that.  Just a little bit at a time, I started to work on this piece again.  When I felt I had had enough, I packed up and started again another day.  Some days I still couldn’t face it.  But, little by little after my pause, the vision I had in my mind’s eye started to form and then before I knew it, she was finally finished in all her splendour, and I enjoyed my painting time once again.  I got my mojo back.  I got my passion back.  My creativity never left, it just needed time … and I have a confession right here to add.  In that time, I may have let a brush or two go completely rock hard from letting them dry out.  But thank God for Cling On Brushes – you can’t kill them and then also having a good brush cleaner.  My brushes are now perfect again 😊

 

While I paint, I often get perspective on things.  It helps clear my head.  It also helps me to think things over.  Other times I crank up the music.  Other times, I pray.  Sometimes if I’m too overwhelmed, I have a good old ugly cry (yep, the ugly cry where you just let it all out).  Other times I just paint and think about nothing and let my creativity just do its thing.  The reason why painting can be so therapeutic is because it brings a calming around about you.  If you are a creative type of person, most times you will find that painting (or creating) is what relaxes you.  We are all wired differently, and all relax and unwind differently – but if you are “finding yourself again” perhaps after a loss of some kind, a divorce, a life change … a whatever, put your hand to painting!  Try it, you may be surprised.  Like anything, sometimes we have to learn it.  You learn how to read.  You learn how to walk.  Sometimes things come easy and sometimes they don’t, but in your learning, you’ll discover things you like and things you don’t.

 

So, in closing, while working on this piece, it taught me that we can’t do it all.  This piece taught me to stop and realign.  To pause.  This piece taught me that when you are burnt out, everything is so much harder.  It is like pushing water up hill – you just can’t.  Perhaps we are so worn out that life itself feels overwhelming.  This is when you need to pause.  Doing things that you love are healing.  Other times you may just need to rest.

 

Lastly, if you are struggling with continual heaviness or negative thoughts, I urge you to get help.  If we stay in the dark hole too long, it can be hard to get out of it.  We are made in such a way that if we think positively, we start to produce positive neurons.  If we think negatively all the time, guess what, our brain will start to produce those negative neurons.  Like attracts like.  Yes, life gets hard, but we don’t need to permanently live with a negative outlook.  Eventually we must help ourselves!  I want to encourage you today if you’re going through a hard time, life does get better.  Here are a few links that have helped me in the past and are worth checking out -

 

 

 Hoping you're encouraged.  Have a great day!

Tamie x