Today some of the creatives in our network met on zoom. They shared different types of art and where they are in their creative process. It was very inspiring to see different kinds of art in one room: music, photography, writing, storybooks, drawings, jewelry, … All made by brave women who find the time and the courage to express their inner self despite their other responsibilities.
After the meeting, I keep thinking about a very interesting video from Liz Guillbert where she differentiates job, career, hobby and vocation. Making a career out of being creative is very challenging and maybe it is not what everybody wants.
However, if you are struggling with your relationship with art, please take a look at this video, Liz makes a distinction between 4 words that we sometimes confuse. I will describe it here but I really encourage you to watch the video:
- Hobby: Something that you do only for pleasure. There are no risks, you don’t have to make money out of it. It is only for you. You do it because it makes you feel good but you don’t need to have one.
- Job: This is the only 1 of these 4 things that you must have. It is something that generates money to pay the bills and makes you a responsible adult who can take her or himself. Most creatives need a job in order to be able to do their art.
- Career: This is a job that you are passionate about and you love. You have it because you believe in the mission and you don’t mind the struggles. If it is not that and you have a career that you don’t like, Liz recommends not doing that anymore and finding a job instead.
- Vocation: is a calling, is that voice that never stops in your head, it is something that your whole body is begging you to do. Gillbert says that this is the thing that nobody can take from you, you will always have it. In Liz’s case, writing was her vocation. It was something that she did every day no matter what.
I think, like Gillbert, many of us wish to be able to make a career out of our vocation, but meanwhile, we need a job. Even though some expat-spouses have the gift of being temporally liberated from paying the bills, that alone doesn’t make it easier to pursue a vocation. Sometimes it is difficult to trust yourself and to fight your fears.
In this post, I want to encourage you to beat your daemons and to find people who will support you in your creative process. Surrounding yourself with people that share your journey is really powerful. We hope that you are able to find that group within the network.
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