Hello loves,
How do you know the difference between knowing when to keep going and when to call something quits? I've made the mistakes on all sides of this. I've pushed myself to burnout, I've also quit something before I should have and missed opportunities, I've also listened to when it was time to put something down and realised the benefit of doing so in the moment or maybe some short time later. It's a difficult question to answer for yourself especially when you are doing anything creative.
Art is beautiful and a real privilege to be able to create but that doesn't detract from the fact that it's WORK. There is a part of it that feels like the universe is working it's pure magic through you and then there's also the part that feels like it's pure labour. That's one of the things I look out for when trying to decipher what to do. If everything is more labour than fun and it's that way permanently then it's definitely time to take a step back. There can be a fun to the progress and a fun to the labour but when all joy is gone, stop. You may not need to quit, you may just need a break and to be honest usually the thing you need to quit is the way you are running your business or the way you are approaching your work. Normally that's enough but if you've done all of that and the thing that you used to love doing now feels like a dead weight on your chest, walk away. If you stay, you'll likely hurt yourself so much that it will be that much harder to ever come back.
Sometimes though there is the bitter truth that art might never be a career for you. Despite doing everything “right” those doors might just not open. That can be tough. I've been there, it sucks. In that case take some time out and whilst it might be important to put the business side of it down, DONT throw the baby out with the bathwater. Keep making art. Make it for yourself. Make it because it lights you up inside. Make it so that no matter what when you leave this planet you have firmly put your handprint on the momentum of your life. It really is better to have tried and face planted rather than wonder “what if?”.
Your art is important but please don't mistake fame and wealth for greatness. Your art is making you as much as you are making it. Be stubborn. Dig in. Make because your soul burns to. You are the first and only person in your like who truly deserves your art.
Onward.
Big love
Ryan James x