Hello world, I'm back!

Hello friends, 

I was so touched to read all your words of encouragement in response to my last post. It's great to be part of a community that is so caring and supportive. I'm going to send out the reward for June tomorrow. 

So, it's been a month since I picked up my pen to draw something and it's been just what I needed. I feel SO much better and calmer and ready to explore the next part of my creative journey! I took the time to read a lot of books, connect with friends, spend time outside and stay the hell away from my computer, and emails. I also didn't check social media very often. 

I think reading has had the biggest impact on me during this time. I read all kinds of genres from true crime, to memoirs, to novels, even books on finances and mental health. All of those gave me new perspectives and made me think how I can bring more of that calmness into my everyday life (you know, when I don't have the luxury of taking a month off). Just the act of reading felt meaningful and like I was making a conscious decision to do something nice for myself, rather than quieting the chatter in my mind with some ok-but-not-great Netflix show that I have watched three times already. Of course, there's comfort in that, but mostly I just use it as a way to keep my brain occupied and distract myself from stress and anxiety. So as an alternative, I've been getting back into meditation, as a healthy way of dealing with these emotions. I'm trying to be more mindful and present in the moment. I only watch, read and do things I really care about, and when I'm too tired to do that, I meditate (or take a nap :D). 

Not having to deal with emails this past month also confirmed that I want to make an effort to bring more of that over into my regular work days and to minimise the time I spend on them. In my last post, I already talked about setting clear boundaries when it comes to work and correspondence. So I'm continuing to investigate how I can delegate small tasks and automate things that don't need my personal attention. It's all a work in progress, but I feel like I'm on the right track. 

I'm also trying to get rid of preconceived notions and opinions I have about certain tasks in my life. For example, I try not to see chores or emails as something inherently bad or annoying. Instead, I'm just trying to be curious about the actual process. And it turns out, it's actually not so bad! The worst and most stressful part about doing those things is the story I've been telling myself of how much I hate doing them. I still have a long way to go in practicing this, but I'm already noticing some positive changes. I hope I can keep it up. I'm writing about it here to hold myself accountable, hehe! 

Aaaand I also wanted to tell you what my plans are in terms of new artwork. 

To be honest, I don't have an at the moment. Of course, I have my ongoing projects and I will probably paint a few more pieces for Phantasma this year. But other than that, I just want to get inspired and see what comes out of that. Right now, I think I want to paint something inspired by Dark. I just watched season 3 and I absolutely love those moody, foggy forests. So I'll be browsing images today and see what happens. But I'm taking it all slowly and one step at a time. :]

Thank you so much for reading this and for being here!
It's good to be back.