I have had so many very cool opportunities this year! I have been able to: exhibit my art, hone my skills as an creative arts instructor, published articles for super cool Canadian magazines and blogs, apply (and get accepted) to creative arts incubator @cSPACE King Edward, created brand illustrations and marketing materials, and designed and facilitated public art collaborations!
If you weren't already aware of the in's and outs of this creative bombshell of a life of mine..allow me to summarize. Always a creative person, never an Artist. Until I got a chronic auto immune disease. I would get sick with a flare up of u
lcerative colitis, I would take time off work to be hospitalized and convalesce at home. When well enough, I would pass time creating art. When sufficiently healed up, I would return to work and the cycle continued, despite my best efforts to change my habits.
My body grew tired of the routine, I had my colon removed, major surgical incident occurred, the pearly gates were previewed, I returned home to convalesce, do art and hopefully not repeat the pattern.
It has been six years since the surgery, and apart from the hardest thing I have ever gone through there have been some benefits. I have learned to share my creative self, became an art instructor, sold my art, published my writing, and practically earned a honorary degree in cognitive behaviour therapy. I am even facing the future of my own studio, where I will teach and share space with the city's bravest entrepreneurial artists and creatives. I could barely dream of any of this paragraph ten years ago let alone yesterday. So I am grateful for every choice, be it a fall or a leap.
I am preparing my body for more alterations, they may have to come surgically, definitely they are coming through therapy and a lot of hard work. I have tried and will continue to try non traditional approaches to my healing. I still hold space for miraculous healing and or pixi dust.
As I count my blessings, I am so grateful for a team of doctors and practitioners which I trust, a spouse that holds the most compassionate space, and a new community of friends to love and support me.
