Art in the Professions
"Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony." - Thomas Merton
Let me tell you about the story of a kid who liked to draw on the walls...
"Balance is not something you find, it's something you create." - Jana Kingsford, UNJUGGLED: Lessons From a Decade of Blending Business, Babies, Balance and Big Dreams.
When he was five - he was caught drawing doodles on the walls. His parents got mad at him and made him erase everything off with a snub of an eraser. They said nothing good will come out of doodling and he should stop marking up the walls. He should go do something else, anything else. Erasing the doodles was hard work; he hated it. But then again, not being yelled at made him happy, at least. When he was fifteen - his chemistry teacher caught him drawing on the back of the exam paper. She called in his parents and told them he had a real talent. He was good in science -and- art. He had a future as a scientific or a medical illustrator. The parents brought him home and told him "Artists starve; they only get famous after they die. Do something else." Then again, the teacher liked him and for that much, he was happy.
When he was twenty-five - he finished a degree in biology and was doing a master's degree. His friends caught him writing and drawing in his free time and asked him to join a team of student-artists. He started his own comic that got published... behind his parents' back. He was working day and night at odd hours. He was doing experiments and was caught falling asleep in the lab. But that was OK, because he was happy.
When he was thirty-five - He has gone through a lot over the last 10 years. His career path was farther and farther away from anything artistic. He went through several bouts of depression but if you ask him today, he will say that art had saved his life. Even if his parents never knew... even if he is in a completely different field... he has found a new balance in life that made him happy. He was established somewhere else, but he was still happy.
The answer to life, universe and everything?
"Do we work for and pay for all this convenience in order to live our lives, or do we live our lives in order to work for and pay for all this convenience?" - Colin Beavan, No Impact Man
Some folks might feel bad for the kid because his parents tried to snuff his artistic talent. Some folks might be mad at the kid for not standing up to fight to do something he obviously loves. Some might even accuse him of selling out and "work just for the money". His life seems to go against everything you may have read about how to "make it" as an artist and "living the dream". In the days of mass-media inspirational advice columns, it's easy to turn up a nose at his life and his choices. But then again, perhaps the most important thing in the story is his ever-evolving definition of happiness.
What makes us happy changes as we invariably change. While the advice columns tell you to go chase your dreams and travel to see the world, relatively fewer of them teach you how to get a mortgage or how to pay for these trips. But if you can't accomplish the latter, you won't be able to enjoy the former. Throughout each stage of our lives, our needs and our wants will change. Advice for teens will seem frivolous to twenty-somethings. And advice for twenty-somethings will sound trite to the thirty-somethings... and so on and so forth. There's no cookie-cutter formula to happiness.
Bread or love? Why not both?
"The answer to finding better work/life balance is to find the right blend between all our life activities—regardless of where and when they occur." - Michael Thomas Sunnarborg, Balancing Work, Relationships & Life in Three Simple Steps
Some folks consider a job some gruelling torture that pays the bills - and then life starts when work ends. Some folks think that if you "do art", you have to find a job "in the field". But life can be a lot more than that.
It's not always about "finding that perfect career" or "landing that big gig" that will be the answer to all of your problems. Sometimes it's about finding out what is it about these things that make you feel good. Happiness isn't just about doing a whole lot of what makes us feel good, either. The happier the person, the more things one can list that makes one happy. Happiness is finding out what makes us feel good in our daily lives and actually enjoying those moments. And the more the merrier. Similarly, one person's happiness doesn't always translate to other people's happiness, either. A person who does commissions isn't "Selling out" compared to someone giving out free art, for example.
The balance between work, life, and art is going to be different for everybody. It'll be different for someone "in the field" and someone "not in the field". But the end goal is the same for everybody - we are all looking for the right blend of all these elements in our lives that makes us happy. And there is enough room in a day to accomplish all of that.
It's not always about "finding that perfect career" or "landing that big gig" that will be the answer to all of your problems. Sometimes it's about finding out what is it about these things that make you feel good. Happiness isn't just about doing a whole lot of what makes us feel good, either. The happier the person, the more things one can list that makes one happy. Happiness is finding out what makes us feel good in our daily lives and actually enjoying those moments. And the more the merrier. Similarly, one person's happiness doesn't always translate to other people's happiness, either. A person who does commissions isn't "Selling out" compared to someone giving out free art, for example.
The balance between work, life, and art is going to be different for everybody. It'll be different for someone "in the field" and someone "not in the field". But the end goal is the same for everybody - we are all looking for the right blend of all these elements in our lives that makes us happy. And there is enough room in a day to accomplish all of that.
Feel comfortable wearing multiple hats
"The world is a stage. Life is an act… Just a balancing act." - Tapan Ghosh, Faceless The Only Way Out
The things is... you don't have to be just an artist, or just a student, or just a "9-to-5'er". It's easy to define ourselves by just one label: "Music is life!" or "I work retail." Our careers is usually what we use to define ourselves, for example. But when you think of it, most of us wear multiple hats throughout the course of the day. Most of us are juggling between roles that we never realize we are playing. Think about it - some of us are children, parent, the employee, or the employer. We can be lovers, friends, caregivers, or caretakers. Sometimes the roles switch throughout the day several times. It's only when we realize that we are all playing multiple roles that we start to see the bigger picture. Some hats fit us better, while others not so much. But it's time to clean out the closet from time to time to take stock of the hats.
All too often, we let one label define us. But we are all so much more than that. Sure, some roles we choose while other roles are given to us. But happiness comes from finding out which roles are necessary and how to play them well. And happiness comes from finding a little bit of goodness under every hat that we wear.
If life is about balance, we need to figure out just what we are balancing first. And when there's a little goodness to be had in every aspect of life, then it's about comparing apples with apples.
All too often, we let one label define us. But we are all so much more than that. Sure, some roles we choose while other roles are given to us. But happiness comes from finding out which roles are necessary and how to play them well. And happiness comes from finding a little bit of goodness under every hat that we wear.
If life is about balance, we need to figure out just what we are balancing first. And when there's a little goodness to be had in every aspect of life, then it's about comparing apples with apples.
Enjoying the moment
"Always take some of the play, fun, freedom and wonder of the weekend into your week & your work." - Rasheed Ogunlaru
Once you realize that you are a complex person who enjoys many things that make your life colourful, we can start putting the pieces together. If we find a little bit of joy in every piece the puzzle falls together much better, too. Having a career can be a joy and so can indulging in a hobby. Being part of a healthy relationship doesn't have to take away from you hanging out with your friends. Having a passion in life doesn't mean you can't enjoy doing something else. So a person can be an engineer who enjoys painting over the weekend - it doesn't make him any less of an engineer or any less of an artist. A DJ at a radio station can host a YouTube show about weird and strange cultural phenomena. A hockey player can also be a wine-maker. Your local surgeon can also be a master carpet-weaver during his off-hours. And all of them have found a way to blend their careers, their hobbies, their love of art and their lives into their own form of happiness.
And since it takes all kinds to make the world, everybody's blend will be just a little different. And that's perfectly OK. Besides, even if what makes everybody happy is different... happiness is contagious.
So... go out and spread the love!
