Welcome to March, fabulous Reader,

I stood next to the wall where I had hung my three paintings; the light from the tall window illuminated the vivid colors. I was so proud of them. Not only was I working in oil, a very challenging medium, but I had spent hours layering on the color to get the intricate detail of the flower petals and create the shadows cast by the figures hidden beneath the leaves.

My painting professor came over.

“What is that!?” He said, pointing at the figure with a sneer.

I looked at the painting. Sure, I had only painted wings on one of the figures, but I thought it was pretty obvious. “…uh fairy?” I hesitantly said, as if questioning my own self.

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“Take it out. It doesn’t make sense.”

And too naive to stand up for myself,

I took them out.

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My senior art thesis was a series of 8 postcard-sized paintings of highly detailed flowers, devoid of any characters.

They were beautiful, but to me, they felt dead.

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What aspects of your life are you living for others?

What have you changed or shrunk about yourself because someone told you to?

We are so inundated with social media and this “need” to show up in a certain way that it stifles our creativity. We may produce massive amounts of content - but we’ve forgotten how to make it art - fun, imaginative, and playful.

We’ve forgotten the point: Art is meant to tell your story how YOU want to tell it.

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I have spent years pushing down bits of me because other people didn’t understand me. I’ve gotten so used to doing it that I don’t even realize I’m doing it.

What parts of you are you hiding?

What parts of you do you wish you could be expressing but aren’t?

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A mentor of mine made a post today about how she is going to walk a mile outside every day this month, and I immediately got jealous.

I want the freedom to walk a mile outside every day.

But there is something about the life I have built for myself where I don’t feel like I have the time. I don’t feel like it’s the responsible thing to do, that I should be working instead - making money.

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I had to remind myself - this is my ONE life.

I am in charge of my daily actions and the choices that I make.

I am taking radical responsibility for the fact that it is truly up to me to give myself the permission I am seeking. Having the freedom to take a walk outside every day is an active choice.

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What are you choosing to allow into your life?

Maybe it’s time you stop letting others stifle you and dictate how you show up.

What would it feel like if you allowed yourself the freedom to be a child and do what you want to do instead of what the world asks?

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Just some thoughts as you go into March.

We are all creatives; we can all find the beauty in the moment, slow down, and take time to put our deepest desires first.

For me, that is, and always will be, more movement outside.

-- Morgan