I Want to Be a Mermaid

From "I'm Really a Mermaid" Shop at Etsy

I read a really amazing post yesterday by the inimitable Emilie Wapnick over at Puttylike.com.  In it, she discusses the emphasis of people on discovering your true talents/career/dream, etc.  But she questions whether this is even a good way to go about the whole matter.  By pursuing your career that way, you're trying to find a way to squeeze yourself in some pre-determined hole, not creating a place for yourself based on what you love and are good at.  

I see so. many. articles. (partly because I tend to read articles like this!) about the importance of following your dream, finding your voice, discovering your passion.  But these all imply that this is a singular goal.  What if, maybe, there are many things you're meant to do?  What if you've a dream to be an artist?  Oh, and a graphic designer?  Oh, and good at baking sourdough bread?  Oh, and a mommy? Oh, and... 

One of the things I love about kids is that they absolutely love and are completely obsessed with about, mm, a billion things. My almost-five-year-old niece is completely crazy about cars, horses, pink, art, mermaids, Blue's Clues, etc.  We are like that too, but when it comes to following our 'dream,' we cut off all those things and decide to just be mermaids when we could be mermaids that find Blue's clues in an artistic way on our favorite underwater horse with our pet car.  

We could!  

So, while I find following your dream an essential part of a happy life, how about we follow all our dreams?

Earth Without Art is just "Eh"

One of the most amazing things about the online world is that you can learn pretty much an.y.thing.  I remember being a kid and wanting to learn French (or bird calls or calligraphy or...) and while there are books about it at the library, of course, I learn so much easier by listening.  

And here's the other thing - I grew up in Titusville.  Which is wonderfully close to the beach and has a Space Center and... that's it.  We didn't even get a Walmart until my senior year in high school. So if you wanted to take a class about a subject that wasn't in my school, well, you were out of luck.

So it makes me SO happy when there are places like Folio Academy where you can learn from professional artists and teachers without having to enroll in an expensive art school or even leave your Walmart-less small town (should you be in one of those).  They teach anything visual, from cloth-mache to perspective drawing.  I'd love if they eventually start to include other arts like music so I could do something like a songwriting or piano course.  

Really - if you have a dream to create art, whether it's your big Life's dream or just a little fun desire you have, there is no shortage of opportunities to learn from!