“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
— Steve Jobs
Unless you are living many light years ago (ie: no computer) you are well aware of the death of Steve Jobs yesterday. I admit I was only peripherally aware of him; "just another rich computer guy", I thought; and so as I read the quotes attributed to him, I'm really amazed that such a wonderfully creative soul missed my attention.
Once again that 'judge a book by it's cover'......something I as an artist should be cognizant of.
The life of an Artist is full of 'why-did-I-choose-this-life' moments, the Creative Muse knows, and often the weight of nomoneynorecognition can break you into chucking it all and becoming the 'dog groomer' your mother recommended but in your heart and soul you just KNOW there is nothing else you CAN do. I've been a dry cleaning delivery person, a mail room sorter, a men's wear clerk, a paper stuffer, a hippy leather shop girl, a picture framer, a security guard (laughable at my stature but a cool badge), a gallery owner and a Census Canada employee in my crazy life and baring the picture framer gig which I was pretty good at and did for some years, I lasted at the most 6 months or less in each job.
Not much stats for the resume, huh?
And it was because, as trite as it may sound, not a single solitary one spoke to my heart. I knew what I was and until I listened to that clamoring voice inside, nothing in my life made any sense.
You know it too.
So never mind the money, never mind if no one else 'gets it', never mind being the 'odd duck' in the pond....just never mind.
I'm telling you, when you follow what your heart says, it really all falls into place.
So, thank you, Mr Steve Jobs. Thank you for being the dreamer and thank you for letting me know it's all ok just to be who you really are.
May we all be as humanly alive as you were.
Painting: "DREAM BIG" by Christine Serres-Marie. I don't usually like abstracted work, and that's odd because I love color so much, but this painting really captured the feeling of this post. I like how it evokes the swirly undulating paths we travel to reach our goals. nicely done.
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