To most every single artist I know, there is one thing that is anathema…the dreaded day job. Oh, yes. You know what I’m talking about! (I see you nodding your head over there! Wink!)
I don’t know if it’s so much the work necessarily—for me, it’s more about what I’m NOT doing (creating in the studio) rather than what I am doing (the day job). Would it be awful to say out loud, that for many artists (not me, of course!!!) the very simple act of showing up at the same time every single day takes every ounce of mojo we have.
Regardless. There are times and seasons in an artist’s life, when, for whatever reason, she deems it necessary to have a paycheck through a day job. Here’s a list that I hope, will help you get through those times, without giving up being the artist that you are:
1. Have your creative time first thing in the morning. Not a revolutionary idea, but a very practical one. Getting into the studio first thing in the morning, even if it’s just to go over a to do list for later, or to sit in your studio chair for a wee bit, to take one more step towards finishing that project or answering an email that will propel your art life forward...this is the time to do it. Make as much art as you can every single day, even if you squeeze your art time into minutes. They really do add up. No day job you go to later on in the day will be able to take this gift away from you.
2. Carry a sketchbook with you. Always. And a pen that you LOVE. I don’t know why, but this really matters. I steal minutes and seconds and unexepected moments throughout my workday’s down time and break time to jot down ideas. Even one little thumbnail or a sentence, well written, can make me feel as if I’m taking the studio with me wherever I go.
3. Have an exit plan. Some might disagree with me on this one, but for me, I need to have an exit plan, a QUIT DATE, if you will. I need to know that this is not for forever—but for a needful season. I need to know that one day I will be in my studio full-time, making art as a full-time artist. You might find that as you get close to the exit date, you’ll find yourself having to readjust and maybe even push back your quit date. Oh well. This doesn’t mean you’ve failed. Life is fluid like that, and it’s yours to live. Just make sure you are continually moving forward and keep your eye on the prize.
4. Keep the hope alive. (See above.) Like Andy tells Red in The Shawshank Redemption, "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."
Remind yourself WHY this day job is needed right now. Maybe you will come to find that it really isn’t and you can quit and be on your merry way to the studio!!! But if all this soul searching does is affirm this need, there is no shame in having a day job! Many, many artists before you have suffered this need (and let’s tell the truth here...it is oftentimes suffering!)
Suck the marrow from that day job and take advantage of every single thing it can possibly give you in this season. Remind yourself that the day job is HELPING you become a full-time artist. You get to not worry about money right now, and you get to make the art you want. You get to have monies to buy art supplies with, you get to not have to do self-employment taxes and accounting (that’s a BIG ONE!) It’s just another step towards the studio, baby.
5. Remember the truth—you ARE an artist no matter what brings in the money. Let me say it another way, you are an artist, you will always be an artist and no cubicle, no paycheck, no uniform, N-O-T-H-I-N-G will ever take that away from you. Just because you’re not in the studio all day, and not making a full-time income from your art doesn’t mean you’re not an artist. Really. I know if FEELS that way, but 'come on. Your value and your work is worth way more than that kind of validation.
And then, go foward dear artist. Do every brave and scary thing you need to in order to get yourself into the studio WHERE YOU (and I) BELONG. Forward motion, baby.
What are three things YOU can do today to get you out of that day job, and into the studio?! Do tell! :)
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