When We Own Our Power

There have been times in my life where I’m exploring a new idea and someone comes along to interject with “well how are you going to monetize that?” Or “how are you going to make a living doing that?” To me, that’s like watching someone plant a seed and then reaching over them to dig it out of the dirt before it can become anything at all. That’s not what I’m talking about. There are many ways to relate to and be in relationship with art and I think that they’re all beautiful and valuable and necessary just because.

That being said; there’s a lot of baggage around Artistry and reciprocity. There’s a lot of baggage around Artistry and self-sacrifice. There’s a lot of programming that suggests choosing your Artistry necessarily means declining to choose your own well-being. None of it makes any sense! Every single industry is fueled by the creativity of the people who participate in them! Creative power is leveraged by everyone even as they try to convince us in the powerlessness of our own. Capitalism is what the world is up to right now- fine. Guess what, the Artist can do that too. And we can do it in ways that are aligned with life by remembering our place in life.

Because we have infinite creative energy I believe we also have infinite earning potential. That’s a pretty big deviation from the narrative of the “Starving Artist”, isn’t it? I don’t think it’s coincidental that we’re taught to associate *starvation* with the very thing that could get us fed. Who does that association actually serve? What becomes possible when we own our power.

I dream of buying land to protect it.

I dream of a world in which a government’s inability or refusal to meet the needs of a community no longer means that those needs don’t get met.

I’m not coming at this from a self-sacrificing savior complex place - I’m talking about moving from a place of overflow. The world is full of Artists and we are so abundant. Consider the possibility that we are living in an era where life is inviting us to rise to the level of our capacity. Doing so can be neutral.

If a tree drops an acorn in the forest there’s a chance that it might create another tree. The tree isn’t being arrogant for knowing and doing this - it’s a tree being a fucking tree.

Well I am a fucking Artist - I build worlds.

I forgot but now I remember.

And it is my hope that as I continue to act on that remembrance you think to yourself; if she can do it, I can do it.

Because that’s the actual truth.

The narrative of the starving artist, and the disempowered artist, are tired concepts that seek to negate the power inherent to The Artist.