on settling in

well, here we are. i'm unsure of where to begin. i’m unsure about this whole thing, to be honest.

i struggle with the idea of sharing things online. i struggle with overcoming my fear of putting myself out there, and of becoming more concerned with how things sound and seem than how they feel.  i struggle with typing my words rather than writing them out. i struggle with the idea of committing more time to a screen everyday than i already have to.

but i attended a workshop though my studio on how to build creative community, and we were advised to go home and create a platform: social media accounts explicitly for our work, and a website if you’re serious. i’d already created a social account, and i’ve always been pretty serious. and so here we are. 

i made an Instagram for the sole purpose of documenting my experience working through The Artist’s Way a couple months ago which has since been repurposed for pots, and posted the photo you see above — a sunset shot from the window of my big, cement-walled pottery studio, accompanied by a single sentence:

"the more I allow myself to focus on prioritizing creative expression, the more I find myself settling into the present moment, moving slower, and recognizing beauty not only in small things, but in everything.”

looking at that photo & those words now, i both want to die at the corniness and appreciate the sense of warmth they evoke. perhaps partially because i am so longing for the community i found within those walls, but i also because the moment captured carries a memory of a small yet significant moment in my creative life. and so onward i go, with the hopes that months from now, I will look back at this post from tonight, feel proud of my growth, and smile, as i did tonight.  until then, i’ll just keep on creating, and we’ll see what happens next.