It never fails to amaze me that at this stage of my life, the late 30's that I would still have so many life lessons to learn.
My 15 year old, know-it-all self, would have scoffed at this, because we all know at 15 you have the world totally sussed out...
So this 'Life Lesson' was featured in my LilliBean Designs: Snippets from the Studio, but I felt that it was an important lesson that I needed to be reminded of + thought I'd share it here too.
The one where I set the humming birds free...
When was the last time you took a risk? And I don't mean, jaywalking against the traffic lights, or leaving your washing out when rain threatens.
I mean when was the last time you took a risk, a risk that meant a great deal to you, a risk that put your heart on the line, that made the humming birds in your belly go crazy. That kind of risk.Last week, I took a risk + held my second market stall. This was a big leap for me, it wasn't at my local farmers markets, where I had my first stall, (and is what I consider'safe' ), it was at a big event, where hundreds of people would be attending, the next town over.
It was an even bigger risk for me because, not only was I opening myself up to judgment + investing a lot emotionally (which is hard to do at the best of times), but I was also investing a bit financially.
I was moving into the bigger leagues.
And surprisingly, I didn't freak out too much about it, I just moved through the list of stuff I had to do. I was calm (mostly) + then, well....So an hour before I was due to go, it all seem to go wrong. Mac had an emergency call out, Bean had a major meltdown, Beastie was sick, the site had no electricity, so I needed a solution to that + then Mac's truck had an warning light come on (and we all know nuthin' good can ever come from ignoring one of those!!)
So on the car ride over, instead of blasting my favourite tunes + singing at the top of my lungs, I gave myself a good talking to.
Something along the lines of:
"So Kirst, this isn't a big deal, ok, well it is a big freaking deal, and yes you are risking your heart, and you are putting yourself out there in a huge way, which you hate, but you are doing it, because it's the right path to take, so get out of yourself + it is going to be ok. And if not, it is only 8 hours, and Bean's labour was that long + you survived that, so this is a piece of cake, this is going to be ok"
It is going to be ok.
It wasn't ok.
It was freaking awesome.
It was awesome meeting truly fabulous people, who enjoyed my paintings. I was awesome speaking to amazing kids about how they dream of being an artist. I was awesome speaking to others about their incredible artistic journeys. I was amazing hanging with Mac, my girls + my friends on a magical evening.
So the point of this is to encourage you to take a risk. Something that sends those humming birds crazy, open yourself up + put it out there. Risk.
'Cause even though it can be the scariest, craziest thing you could do - sometimes the results are freaking awesome.
How are you going to take a risk this week?
P.S. This is an article from my monthly newsletter - LilliBean's Love Letter: Snippets from my Studio.
If you enjoyed what you have read, you can click on the image below, (it takes two seconds), for more articles like this, your free downloadable art + the chance to win the subscribers only give away. Junes 'Studio Snippets' hits inboxes June 1st.
