At least that’s what my ten year old says to me before I explain for the bazillionth time,  that “Whatevs” is not a word. Yes, I am also aware that Bazillionth is not a word either. Just go with me here.

Today my friend did a very difficult thing. She admitted she was vulnerable in a group of her peers. She did not portray herself as full confidence. She admitted feeling somewhat defeated and kind of afraid to put herself out there anymore when it came to her work. I wish I could have given her a hug. We’ve all been there. I definitely KNOW the feeling.  The truth is, there is so much criticism out there when it comes to being a artist that it can be difficult to move forward. You get caught up being driven by what other people think you should be doing and then all of a sudden you have no idea where you are, how you got there, or even how to get back to what makes you happy.

My Advice:  take a step back. That’s what I did. I re-evaluated. I shut off the endless stream of highly opinionated people that are just waiting to get inside my head and take over my art. It was remarkable. The silence was blissful. All of a sudden, I decided to shake off all these people that I didn’t even know and stop worrying about what they thought of what I was doing. I am an artist. If you don’t like my work, it’s ok. I mean, it’s not ok. You should love it but I’m not going to cry about it or anything. If you do like my work …  High Five! I’m doing this because I love it. I’m doing it because they art that I make sings in the hearts of the people I’m capturing. That’s right. I said it sings in their hearts. True story.

I encourage you to do the same. Take a step back, remember what you love and don’t let other people in who will get in the way of that. So for all those highly critical people out there : “Oh Whatevs!”