For the past couple of decades, a late December tradition has been to look back on the past 12 months and give its passing some kind of assessment. I remember all the wonderful people in my year and the “successes” for which I’m grateful, and then there are the things that didn’t go as planned but I’m still happy if I learn something from the experience. This exercise is also accompanied by a list of what I hope to achieve in the upcoming year and a word which characterizes how I feel about what I need to do. The word I picked for 2022 was mastery.
Looking back at my notes from last December, I was thinking to continue to improve my skills in painting, drawing, and clay. What happened was a little different. The second or third week of January started an unplanned journey to break my lifelong sugar addiction. This was no small deal. I was the kid who’d regularly climb up on the kitchen countertop to eat sugar straight out of the sugar bowl. I’d use sugary snacks to regulate my emotions (mostly anger and or a low-grade anxiety), or overeat to buffer or numb out the negative stuff. Yeah, it’s hard to stay angry when you’re filling your mouth with chocolate. When I learned to just sit with my emotions, I knew I could be ok and no longer needed sugar to help me process my feelings.
What got me started was accidentally finding an episode of Dr. Katrina Ubell’s podcast, Weight Loss For Busy Physicians. (I’d googled “rage eating”. Was it really a thing? Ummm,… yeah, it is.) It’s funny, my not being a physician and all, but her approach to “using the power of your mind” really works for anyone. I highly recommend her informative and engaging podcast.
I loved sugar. It feels good to say that in a past tense; I really no longer want it. Peace and freedom around food was always something I wished for and it feels good to have finally gotten to a place where I can easily keep my weight down (without hours of daily exercise) and have a consistent level of energy.
But what’s even better than breaking a sugar addiction is having acquired tools to deal with my emotions. To be able to examine my thoughts about the past and sit with the feelings means I don’t have to continue to be a victim of my past. This is really big for me and I feel as if I’ve grown so much as a result of this discovery. I’ve found a key that’s opened all the doors.
Perhaps because of the improvement in my emotional health, several of the mental roadblocks pertaining to my art business also evaporated. Always I’d be dragging my feet when it came time to consider aspects of my business like marketing, advertising, better website design— and omgggg having a storefront. The anxiety was too much. The pandemic happened though, and I put a shop on Etsy in haste; I learned a lot about SEO, keywords and categories, sales, algorithms, and a whole lot more on the fly. I didn’t know what I was doing and I’m sure I made a bunch of mistakes, but having Etsy (and fans of my work) for support really helped me to get over the fear. Now, I’m ready to make the transition to my own shop with all of the transactional and technological necessities of a real store. /wheeeee!\
Every year I always feel that I improve my artistic skills and 2022 was no different. I was super excited about creating and selling the Migration painting. It’s the first in a series of paintings currently in development and I feel that I’m really putting my finger on the work that I’m supposed to be doing. (Images coming!) I hope the work of 2023 is as transformative in my art skills, my business, and my personal growth.
May the upcoming year be as exciting and good to you too. What will your personal keyword be?