I'm completely overwhelmed.
The amount on my to-do list continues to grow, without the luxury of finding any more hours during the day.
I chose this life, I cherish it, but I have a tendency to stretch myself too thin with all the projects I want to work on. I love more than anything the feeling of spreading inspiration and helping other artists in pursuit of their dreams. Some of my projects benefit others more than me, and while I wish I could continue them all, I have bills to pay and I have to be realistic.
Why am I sharing all this? Aren't I supposed to make it seem like I'm a super successful artist and streamer?
Well if you've read any of my other advice to artists, you know that I talk candidly and open about the truth of being a full time artist. It's not all glamorous.
Success is relative. To me, freedom and daily happiness is success. I get by financially, sometimes just barely.
I have absolutely no social life, outside of the internet/social media. I choose to use all my free time to work on all these projects (studies, daily blog, patreon paintalongs, tutorials, etc), and since I focus on sharing positivity and lots of cool projects, it creates a public image that is often misleading.
It's so easy to get lost in the haze of anxiety and stress, and drift along until it's too late and all hope of progress is lost, but if I want to continue to be successful, I need to see things clearly, and make a new game plan.
Being a full time artist means constantly evaluating your personal goals and how to reach them based on your existing circumstance.
I'm only human, and I can't do it all. This is me, admitting defeat.
New Game Plan:
- This blog will no longer be a Daily Blog, but rather a "frequent post blog" - with no specified amount of posts per week, but at least one per week. I'm proud that I published something every day for the last 61 days, but in that time I've discovered how much planning, time, and work goes into making interesting content every.single.day. Lesson learned. I've lost time and momentum on other important projects - projects that pay the bills, and it's no longer a viable option to keep daily posts going.
Even though I admit defeat in this project, I think in the end it will be better for all. - Work on reducing my debt. I still have over $70,000 in student loans to pay off. It's a huge monthly burden, almost $700 flies out the window each month, so it's time to take bigger steps in reducing that.
Eventually, when I'm no longer weighed down by this burden, I will be able to dedicate more time to my passion of helping others. - Continue streaming full time and all the streaming projects - like monthly Paintalongs
- Try to make at least one new tutorial each week and publish to YouTube. Until now, I've been using this blog to inspire others and post tutorials and helpful topics. I'll still do that, but I want to get better at making video content.
- Continue to privately work on my Wanderer story. In only 2 months of writing every day, I have already noticed a difference in my ability to write. One of the goals of doing a daily blog was to be more comfortable writing. I can proudly say that is now true! Not that I'm a GOOD writer, but at least I'm able to get the words out, and go from there! Success!
- After summer 2017, I should have my UK visa situation handled, and I'll be on my way to settling in the UK. That stability will help me in making longer-term plans :)
Thanks to everyone who has been reading these posts, who have encouraged me, and I hope to continue to provide fun and helpful content for a long time to come! Check back each Friday for new content! I may post more often than that, but I'll definitely make sure to post for the weekend readers.