Wow, what a happy looking family, right? What you don't see is the anxiety, depression, stress, and an overall loss of self that happens after years of putting everyone else's needs above myself. Turning 40 has been a turning around point for me. I can either let my trauma pull me under or rise above it and grow to be a better version of me. I choose to grow. Through that has been a lot of self discovery and boundary setting. One big part has been the reconnection with my creative side. Though I am a trained animal geneticist, the best part of my job has been the creative aspects. I just didn't realize it until now. I'm that weird faculty member that actually likes writing grants and interacting with other people. It's been that creative process that excites me. I also remember sitting at my easel as a kid watching Bob Ross on PBS and painting along side him, but for some reason I stopped. As much as I enjoyed painting and creating, I stopped. Why? I suspect some of it was that I didn't even hold a candle to the other kids my age that were artistic. I was also really good at math and felt that to be successful I needed to focus on science and math. So it was my perception that society's expectations for success was in science and that unless you were given a natural gift of art then that was an area that was off limits to people like me. So I have followed the path of math and science and have made it to academia as an animal geneticist and have come to realize that a lot of my joy comes from creating. I have also realized that my profession should not define me. I've always felt like an outlier so why not embrace it?! So about 6 months ago I started taking some portrait drawing lessons with a local artist. It has TRANSFORMED my life! I am excited every day to wake up and do all the things on my list. I still love being a scientist but now I also get to spend time creating. Art has become my form of meditation and I cannot get enough. So join me on this transformative adventure. Any support you can give by being a member, purchasing artwork, words of encouragement, or even your patronage would be appreciated. Please follow me as I dive into different mediums and artistic forms on my path to self-discovery!
You was always very talented.
You must have some natural artist gift. My daughter was good in math and science and went in a totally different direction then we thought she would. She is a copy editor and loves it. She had a 9th grade teacher who lead her in that direction. She always liked to read and write, but I never knew she liked grammar. Go for what you want to do. I taught all ages of children from 6months to 12th graders for almost 25 years in daycare and special education and now am working at Home Depot and love. Not every moment, but most of the time.
Lisa Warstler