My Beginning, Part I
Let me take you back a bit, to the winter of 2017. I was coming to the end of my 40th year, a pivotal year some may say. It certainly was for me. I was a Social Worker by profession, having earned my MSW in 2009 and feeling like it was my life’s calling. Up until then, I really felt like it was. Even with the mounting stress at work, a baby at home and 2 teenager girls at vastly different hormonal stages (parents of teens, you know exactly what I mean), I felt as if I had it all under control. In reality, I didn’t. It was a slow build up, but I felt as if I was spiraling on the inside. I developed anxiety, to the point where I even stopped watching TV because everything I watched left me edgy and distressed. Something needed to change.
I recall being on the phone with my oldest daughter, Tatyiana who was in her second year at college at the time. She was telling me about this new thing she discovered to help her get more organized with her classes and college life in general: Bullet Journaling. She sent me pictures of some of her pages (which I now know are called layouts) and they were fantastic. She directed me to Instagram so that I can see all the layouts floating around and encouraged me to try it myself. Up until this point, Instagram was just a place where I could post cute pictures of my girls for my close friends and family to see. I never knew that there was this huge, thriving art community. I was instantly hooked. I spent hours browsing through bullet journal profiles and started gathering inspiration.
I purchased a Rhodia Dot Grid Journal and began to take some control of my life. Here is my beginning:
Excerpts from my gratitude layout:
October 15th - “…I’m grateful to finally get the chance to really work on something I’ve been wanting to do forever - art”
October 27th - “ I’ve started watercoloring, and in the almost 2 weeks since I’ve been painting, I’ve come so far… Right now I am enjoying practicing everyday and seeing what I can create.”
I can’t even begin to tell you how bullet journaling literally changed my life. I didn’t continue it for long, but it was the very beginning of my artistic journey.. and the rest of my life.
“Life really does begin at forty. Up until then, you are just doing research” - Carl Jung
Thank you for embarking on this journey with me. I will release a new blog post every Sunday. The blog posts will contain stories of my journey, process, favorite things, tutorials and more. I hope you will stick around and take this walk with me. Please leave me a comment below if you enjoy this and would like to see more. I also take as many suggestions as you can throw at me for more posts and tutorials.