Nuki News #22: Biggest Factor for Success?

Previous Artie Asks Artists post:  https://www.patreon.com/posts/39351636 

What a mentally exhausting week. I have to admit that I think I have depressive low points at this time of year, from late July till late August. It’s probably the heat, but as you are no doubt experiencing yourself, the quarantine is a mental tax we’re all forced to pay and amplifies things. The first 2 days of the week and the last few days of my weekend, I felt weary, and  wanted to just email my boss to tell them I quit on the spot. I just didn’t want to think about all the struggle and effort I’d have to put up with at work anymore. Believe it or not, around this exact same time last year I had a similar feeling and wanted to do the same.

Thankfully, I am the type to pause and think first before doing anything drastic. While I do want to move on from my day-job and do art full time(hence the Nukinews Series) I knew if I quit then and there with this mindset, I’d definitely be a bad spot to start my freelance furry art career. I don’t want to quit because I’m desperate or tired. I want to quit from a place of growth and abundance- when I don’t have my back to the wall and can confidently step forward. I know the last thing I need is to put myself in a position of “now what?” I wasn’t feeling art at that time either. I probably would have just wallowed for a week, maybe 2 before getting my act together if I went through with it so suddenly like that.

Still, I did manage to make a turn around later on in the week, when I got to help a close friend of mine with a sudden scary issue they faced. Because I’m in a secure place, I was able to lend a hand quickly to them, and honestly it probably meant just as much to me that I could help as it was to them receiving it. And poof, just like what happened last year when I was feeling this summer depression, I kind of snapped out of it - I realize I currently have the opportunity to help others from my position in a way I wouldn’t be able to if I quit now. That helped refocus my mindset while I still have this job, and tied in with the second point I formed from the artists I gave my questionnaire to;

Your mental health is imperative, and your whole world will revolve around you maintaining your sanity and keeping a positive image of yourself. Positive mindset is something you must cultivate daily so you don’t break down. Don’t let work bleed into leisure.

As I mentioned above, I knew myself that if I actually went through with quitting too soon, and especially while in a poor state of mind, I’d be setting myself back. But this point also reminds me that I haven’t been doing activities or habits to help prevent burnout or depression like this to begin with! Everyone is different of course; so what will work for me may not work for you, and I can’t guarantee it’d work for me every time, either. But mental health is still worth the investment of time, or else I’d stand to lose it. 

A simple habit I can work back into my daily routine would be to meditate, and practice gratitude - writing down 5 things I’m grateful for. I can also make a playlist to listen to for motivation to remind myself why I began this journey to begin with! Ever since I graduated highschool, I wanted to pursue a lifelong career in art because I didn’t want to rely on luck to get a scholarship to a good school, or some job- it all felt like a game of chance to me. 

I wanted to reap what I sowed on my own merits, and use my successes to give back to others. There’s a lot that goes into keeping good mental health, though, in this recent case, it took me re-framing my situation to get me out of the funk I was sinking into. Adding onto the problem is something my boyfriend mentioned to me - I was treating my art as a whole as another job. And it’s true that I take my art seriously, I want to make a living with it after all. But I wasn’t doing myself any favors by not drawing things for myself this month. What freetime I had from my dayjob, instead of engaging in things that would be pleasurable, I’d end up trying to work on commissions. Not that I don’t enjoy the art I make for others, but I was giving myself more work to do rather than making time for myself, personally. 

So with that in mind, I managed to get a week off of work next week- and I plan on doing a personal art exploration for myself.  I'll go into more detail about that in a future post! For you reading this, I hope you are hanging in there, and got something out of this! More of this Artie Asks Artists series to come!