Do What You Love

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Today’s *shared stories* come from Australian artist Cathy Kirwan, and California-based designer Gina Morrison.  

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Cathy Kirwan

Exploring the notion of ‘doing what I love’ has been an interesting experience.  Before I could even start writing I had to ask myself  “am I doing what I love”?  Which led me to the next question – how do you measure if you are ‘doing what you love’?  Do you base it on the amount of time you spend doing that thing?  Or is it about whether you make your livelihood from it?  I think at the heart of the matter is choice.  To me ‘doing what I love’ is about making choices about my life that leave room for the things that matter most.

For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be a painter.  The problem was I had no formal training, no knowledge of how to paint and no idea where to start.  Sure I did art subjects in early high school but never took it any further than that.  When it came time to choose a career I made a ‘sensible’ choice to pursue a career in the not-for-profit sector helping other people.  For 16 years I’ve worked with people living at the margins of society.  But I’ve constantly felt that something was missing.  I’ve carried a huge sense that I wasn’t living the life that I was meant for.

Fast forward to about 3 years ago.  My partner went out one day and bought me an easel.  Around the same time I discovered the magazine Cloth Paper Scissors.  These two simple things somehow became the catalysts for a major change in my life.  I started painting and making collages.  Tentatively at first, working on small canvases and making gifts for family and friends.  I didn’t dare call myself an artist and I was extremely shy about my work.  Over time I started buying magazines and books about collage and painting, trying out new ideas, becoming more adventurous as I went along.  Suddenly I could feel myself coming alive.

“Amongst it”

Alongside the painting and collage I started a blog.  I began to connect with other creative souls and tapped into the endless source of inspiration that exists online.  I made online friends and in time they became real life friends.  Suddenly I was part of a creative community.  I was surrounded by people who not only made handmade things, but who also sold their work.  I started to see that the same was possible for me.

In 2010 I held my first solo exhibition.  I exhibited 13 artworks and all but one of them sold.  I was shortlisted for an art award in a national competition and had a piece of work published in Patti Digh’s recent book ‘What I Wish for You: Simple Wisdom for a Happy Life’.  My dreams had come true.  I was a living breathing artist.  I also started selling prints and cards both online and at markets.

In late 2010 I was working part-time as a consultant and trying to make a living from my art.  Money was very tight and the bills were mounting up.  Suddenly my dream seemed to have become a nightmare.  While I had all the time in the world to paint, I had no money to buy supplies or to even pay the bills.  My inspiration dried up as my stress levels grew.  This was not how I imagined ‘living the dream’.  I was miserable and I knew that something had to give.  The greatest sacrifice came at the end of the year when I made the decision to return to full time work in the not-for-profit sector and to keep painting in my spare time.  I felt like an enormous failure and was sure that this was the end of my dream.  How could I have come so close only to have to let it all go?

“Abundance”

Now I’ve settled into my new job and I’m painting lots.  I’m getting ready for my next solo exhibition in June.  I haven’t abandoned what I love even though I can’t spend as much time on it at the moment.  I’ve realised that I’m building foundations for the future and I’m consciously thinking about the path I want to take with my art and making plans to get there.  My focus for the moment is on developing my style and creating original works for exhibition and sale. The biggest thing I’ve learned over the past couple of years is that I have to take my own journey to becoming an artist and not just try and do what everyone else is doing.  It’s hard sometimes because you see people achieving success and you think that perhaps that’s the path that you should follow.  But each of us has our own path to travel.  For me it’s focusing on where I’m am at the moment, keeping my intentions firm and letting things evolve of their own accord a little.

My big dream is for painting to become a bigger and bigger part of my life and to eventually be a major source of income.  I want to paint really big works of art and to exhibit my work all over the world.  I’d love painting to create opportunities for me to travel and I want to share my passion for painting with others, maybe through teaching or maybe in some other creative way.

Right now I am definitely doing what I love.  I’m painting, I’m dreaming and I’m opening myself to the journey, with all its twists and turns.

[All images courtesy of Cathy Kirwan.  Cathy is a painter, writer, dreamer, cat lover, and bike rider.  She lives in Melbourne, Australia with her partner and their two fur children.  You can find more of her art and writing at www.tinniegirl.com.au]

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Gina Morrison

I always thought a paycheck would be enough.  Then I realized I wanted a bigger paycheck.  That is what I thought I needed.  The big paycheck would make any boring job worth it because I would have a lot of money, right?

Wrong.  No matter how big the paycheck, I found that if I still had to drag myself to the hated job, then the money wasn’t enough.

This is where I was at a year ago.  I had a great paycheck and a low stress, steady job.  I knew a lot of people looking for work who would have jumped at the chance to have my job and this made me feel selfish.

I felt bad for complaining about the job and I felt bad for wanting something more.  For the first time in my life, I realized that “something more” which I wanted wasn’t about money.

Sure, I would love a lot of money because money gives you options.  And options are a nice thing to have.  However, somewhere in between a college degree and a few mindless jobs I figured out that I needed a purpose.

A purpose won’t buy me a new laptop or allow me to fly first-class, but it does more.  A purpose won’t allow me to sleep.  It creates an excitement that makes every day a day I want to live. 

About a year ago I decided that to leave behind the string of mind numbing jobs that promised no more than money.   Due to my day job boredom, I dreamt up a little company {Acute Designs} and started it as a hobby. 

After a week of my new hobby, I realized this needed to be my career.

I worked nights and weekends – creating, saving, and scheming for the right time to break free from my day job.  Somewhere along the line I realized that there would never be a perfect time.  I would never be making full time money working part time on my company.

I just had to take the plunge. 

So, I set my last day of work for four days before my 30^th birthday.  I felt like it was as close to perfect as any time would ever be.  It was a new decade in my life and a new chapter in my career.

Every single day since I left my job has been fun or exciting or stressful.  I will confess that I do miss the money and sometimes I find myself stressing over it, but I don’t miss the sinking feeling I would get as Sunday night closed in and Monday morning loomed.  I know that the money will come and I have learned to live with less {which is an amazing lesson to learn at any age!}.

For once in my life I never have a day I dread. I am not working for the weekend and I don’t have a case of the “Mondays.”  I used to live for the weekends and now I live for each day.  No big paycheck could have ever given me that.

[All images: ae martin photography.  To find out more about Gina visit her website Acute Designs, her blog or her Etsy shop]

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More inspiring *shared stories* here

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Are you doing what you love? Join us for the Summer session of the Do What You Love e-course, for tools and inspiration to do what you love, for life.

Class begins June 6, and the course runs for six weeks.

Registration is open now – find out more in the mini e-course site here.

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