Welcome back to The Inspired Artist.
Each Friday, we explore identity, creativity, and the way who you are influences what you create. Then you'll receive a new mixed-media printable to spark your creativity.
How Much Are You Allowing Yourself to Expand?
How much of your life are you actually choosing?
It's a question worth asking when your days have become so filled with responsibilities and routines that you barely give yourself time to consider what else you want to experience. You can spend years doing what needs to be done while the dreams you once had keep getting pushed further into the future.
And at some point, you have to ask yourself whether you're willing to do something about that.
Are you creating the life you want, or are you simply continuing the life you've gotten used to?
I believe expansion begins when we start allowing ourselves to imagine something different. When we begin considering possibilities beyond what we're currently experiencing, we give ourselves an opportunity to question the identity we've built around our existing circumstances.
Because your identity influences what you believe you're capable of doing.
If you've spent years seeing yourself as someone who plays it safe, takes care of everyone else, or follows a familiar routine, the idea of pursuing something completely different can feel uncomfortable. You may have a dream that excites you, but your understanding of who you are keeps influencing the decisions you make.
And this is where I think we have an opportunity to change things.
You get to decide who you're going to BE as you move toward the life you want.
I think we sometimes expect to feel confident before we begin doing something unfamiliar. But confidence develops through experience. Every time you make a decision that moves you toward something you want, you're giving yourself evidence that you're capable of creating change.
And those decisions matter.
Maybe you've been thinking about starting a creative business, traveling somewhere you've always wanted to go, or exploring an interest that has been calling to you for years. At some point, you have to decide whether you're going to continue thinking about it or actually do something that moves you closer.
I also believe creativity plays an important role in expansion. When we create, we practice exploring possibilities and making decisions based on our own ideas. We discover what happens when we give ourselves permission to experiment, and that experience can influence how we approach other parts of our lives.
The more willing you become to explore, the more possibilities you begin to recognize.
And I think that's an important part of living an expansive life. You begin making decisions based on what you want to experience and who you want to become.
So here's something I'd love for you to think about this week.
What is one thing you've been wanting to experience, create, or pursue that you could actually begin moving toward right now?
Because the life you're imagining will require you to make different choices than the ones that created the life you're living today.
And you get to start making those choices whenever you decide.
From The Reclaimed Podcast: How to Find Yourself Again After Putting Everyone Else First
This week's episode of The Reclaimed Podcast with Royce Hunt Bell and me continues a conversation that I think is especially important as we begin looking at what we want for the next chapter of our lives.
How to Find Yourself Again After Putting Everyone Else First explores what happens when you've spent so much of your life focused on the needs of your family and the responsibilities that come with it that you've lost touch with some of your own interests and desires.
It's a conversation that connects directly to this week's theme of expansion. When you've spent years making decisions around what everyone else needs, it takes some intention to begin asking what you want to experience for yourself.
Royce and I are exploring what it means to reclaim those parts of our lives and begin discovering who we are today. Creativity is an important part of that conversation because it gives us opportunities to explore our interests and make choices simply because something excites us.
I'd love for you to join us for this week's episode and become part of the conversation.
From Anaconda Art: The Tree of Light Necklace
I've always loved artwork that incorporates symbolism, especially when it invites us to think about our own lives in a different way.
This week's featured piece, The Tree of Light, is a handmade domino necklace inspired by Gustav Klimt's beautiful Tree of Life imagery.
The artwork features a serene woman nestled within the swirling branches of a tree, surrounded by gorgeous shades of teal, turquoise, and gold. I love the connection between the woman and the tree, and how the branches seem to represent all the different directions our lives can grow.
It also connects beautifully with this week's conversation about expansion. A tree continues growing throughout its life, developing new branches as it reaches into new spaces. I think that's a wonderful way to look at our own possibilities as we continue discovering who we want to become.
The artwork is decoupaged onto a vintage-style domino and sealed beneath glossy resin, creating a unique, lightweight piece of wearable art.
The Tree of Light Necklace is available at Anaconda Art using the link directly below.
