As artists in this world, we are told to focus, to direct our energies towards one specific niche, to find what audiences like, and recreate that reality, over and over- in order to find success. Keep reading and I’m going to tell you about why following your curiousity leads you towards an expansive, authentic and abundant life and mindset. I’ll tell you about what following my curiousity has taught me, why time is your most valuable resource, and how to define your own version of success.
By following your own curiousity, you develop your authentic* artist voice, you learn how to trust your intuition and instincts, and you not only learn new things- but you learn how to put things together in different and interesting ways.
Grab your journal, or a piece of paper, and a pen.
Set a Timer for 15 minutes and list all the things you’re curious about right now until the timer goes off.
Here’s 10 of mine.
1. How do museums label artifacts?
2. What is the formula for presenting lessons within magical stories?
3. Is working magic for strangers different than working magic for people I know?
4. What are the direct correlations between ADHD and PTSD?
5. What would happen to my consciousness if I went to the woods every morning for thirty days?
6. Can I make the income I need as a tattoo artist, while also working four days a week?
7. Why do past failures make humans less likely to try new things in the future? Is it a trauma response? Because most of the things we do as humans actually fail. Failure is most of the steps towards a personalized version of success.
8. How do mushrooms grow inside of insect excoskeletons?
9. How can I cultivate my energy and reclaim it for what I want to do? Do I need to accept my exhaustion and just wait, or push through and find new energy sources?
10. How do I get people on my Patreon to interact with the Patreon page rather than just pay me and recieve their Creativity Letters passively? They could deeply benefit from connecting with one another during doing these exercises.
Now that you’ve done the exercise, what do you notice about your curiousity? Does it tell you anything about the directions you want to be moving as a person? Mine tells me my body needs to be resting, I need more habitual studio and woods time, and I am looking for ways to better my life and help people and myself connect to one another. Those bits of self awareness let me know I am in alignment with my purpose as an artist.
Sometimes the curiousity list leads me towards a new art medium, or on a new adventure, or let’s me make connections I haven’t made before. Those sound small if you’re thinking of an artist life as a “capitalist income stream” because what “they” mean when they label artistic success, and recommend you finding what you’re good at- is to find “an income stream.”
“They” don’t mean: success in relationships, or success in cultivating a sense of internal abundance, or deep pleasure in your life. Success is deeply individualized, and connection, a sense of purpose and being able to meet your own needs, and the needs of people around you abundantly, this is soul success. This is purpose. Without purpose, you are most likely to wander off towards something easier than constantly developing your talent as an artist. Curiousity is the battery charge of living the artist life.
And, let’s be real. We live in capitalism, we need a way to pay the bills. So yeah, stabilize your income stream, however, don’t force your artistic vision into one stream bed because you want to achieve “artistic success.” My buddy Raphael of Emerald visions, sent me this excellent Twitter post this morning that explains what I mean:
Know this…
Prosperity is a byproduct of self love.
Self love, deep internal reliance, trust in the process, connection to others and the natural world, and belief.
Money is just a bunch of paper and metal. Lack of self love is what leads to trouble.
I believe the only things evil in is an artist life are: Lack of self love, commitment to insecurity, and self hatred. Because all of these things lead to causing trauma and pain to others, and hurting ourselves, and being miserable and unkind to others.
For myself, the deepest version of success is having an income which pays my bills, allows me to spoil my dogs, my community, and myself- while also saving money, and going on adventures. I have to have time to play, in my studio, outside, with people I care about, and feel expansive and in control of my time.
Time is my most valued currency. I use my time to wander down dream paths, fiddle with things in my studio, go out into the woods, thrift store explorations, work deeply involved and ritualized magic, spend time with people I care about, and explore my innate curiousity about the world.
You get to decide what success means for you. I hope it involves trusting your curiousity and living a full and joyful life.
*authentic- I find this term both useful and problematic. Especially for artists who have to both be themselves in real life and a brand online. Don’t force yourself to buy into it- no matter what you do, you are being yourself.