When things don't happen as you would have hoped, God has something better planned.
I couldn't really talk or write about this while I was going through it, but I was let go from my job at the start of the year. It was a wonderful opportunity to learn about and work with plants while I was finishing courses at community college, but then I was struck with a sudden now what?  Well, that's a good question. I didn't really ask myself that before I found myself in that situation. I didn't have a life plan or agenda to adhere to, I didn't even expect to find the last job I had, but I do have valuable skills and experience and I can find great opportunities if I just start searching for them again.

At first, I still left the house in the morning with no particular place to go, so I would find myself painting around town or drinking coffee at the beach trying to search for jobs on my phone. I was in a good and weird opportunity to really search for what I would like to do and where I would like to go with my twenty-something life, especially because I have taken things slow and have laid low at home over the years, looking for local opportunities first and avoiding the city. I was also in a camping mood because the only solid near future plans I had at the moment were camping reservations I had made last month, so I was art camping in my bedroom while I was on this "adventure."

I started a few more paintings for my portfolio, worked on my prayer life, and really asked God to help me discern the news and to lead me in my life situation. Because besides the insurrection at the capitol, impeaching Trump again, Republicans and Democrats "at war" with each other through their words, being fed opinions and conspiracies that affect how I felt for a moment about the matter, and media censorship and YouTube algorithms leading me to just turn off my device--besides all of that, I just need to find a job. Goodness gracious. Painting and camping in my room doesn't mean that I don't have my life together, it's just a coping mechanism while I'm in this grace period of figuring things out. 

I started the year by making my last round of painted pots, taking inspiration from an old simple doodle. The sun was red, different from the normal white or yellow, and I liked that and I wanted to include that in the round of pots. I gave these to friends and family, but I would like to create more pots for my own garden in the near future. This month I will be very busy and working on my canvas paintings when I can, so I am looking forward to developing those images and sharing my art with you all.

Happy New Year!
No crazy big ambitious new year resolution to see here other than to keep on blooming. Now that I rediscovered my passions, I would like to keep painting and writing out of natural growth and expression, not with any expectation or desire. To put it in words, I guess my hope for this year is to do something about what I learned about myself in 2020 to keep growing and keep going.

​I’d like to share a quote that found me last night. It was Mahatma Gandhi who once said, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” Those words kind of put to rest how I felt recently, and I’d like to keep that wisdom in mind as I begin this new year. I won’t always bring up political, spiritual, or religious thoughts on my blog, but I expressed some of those thoughts because it helped me breakthrough my own personal barriers with art and writing.

It’s not uncommon for anyone to have thoughts like that (like I read Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley the weekend after writing my parable on space and time, and he articulates his thoughts on time, space, and art while on drugs which resonated with me because that’s along the lines of what I’ve been wondering about, minus drugs), but not everyone will express it to avoid the topic or to stay politically correct. Thoughts and opinions can change as we continue to learn more and grow.

Having that said, I am looking forward to beginning this year with God’s guidance and to live fully each day and to keep learning along the way. I know that good and bad times will surely come, but I would like to find the good lessons in each situation as I try to accomplish some personal goals.