The Gift of Disappointment

One of the Art Quilts that will be in the Magazine

I have a lot of creative ambitions. To create art quilts, paintings, collage, sketchbooks and write in various forms. I am pursuing places and platforms where I can teach as well. In this economy, it’s not always easy to feel successful when everyone seems most interested in how many pieces of art you’ve sold lately. No matter how many times I remind myself that gas prices are climbing and impacting the cost of everything from food to clothes, it can be discouraging when work isn’t flying off the website. It also fills me with gratitude when I do get an order and I get to package up some of my work. I think it’s because I know that right now art is a luxury and I need to remember that.

Recently I have reached out to several people and platforms to teach what I have spent almost three decades learning. One local place basically said there’s no time in their schedule. I looked at their website and drew a different conclusion. But it was polite of her not to say no thanks, not interested. I was disappointed for a bit and then realized that I had put myself out there and this just wasn’t a good fit. She knew her clientele best. The disappointment of being turned down spared me the disappointment of possibly having no one sign up.

Another platform is keeping my proposal on file and will possibly reach out to me for a future opportunity. Getting news like this is sort of like wondering how big the black hole is. Will I ever hear back? No timeline was mentioned. I’m on a permanent hold there. I remind myself that earlier in my life I never would have dreamed of filling out that proposal or entertaining the idea that I could teach at a venue of this size. I live with optimism that I might just get that opportunity.

Finally, I took some quick pictures of some recent art quilts and submitted to a magazine that I have appeared in before. They were happy to hear from me and said they were making decisions at the end of the month. And then it arrived. The email that started with Congratulations! My work was once again selected for their publication. I have to send it out to California for photography and write up an article. It’s exciting to have your work in print and this company does an excellent job.

All of this brings me to the realization that even though creative endeavors can be full of disappointments. Bad paintings, failed art quilts, mediocre collage pieces, typos in my writing, are all a part of the endeavor. The word endeavor is defined as to seriously or continually try (to do something). That’s what I am doing. What happens when you try is that sometimes you succeed and sometimes you fall short of what you wanted to accomplish. The power is in the trying. Putting yourself out there. Showing your work. Continuing to get better. Solving the problem. Fixing the composition. Choosing the colors. Writing the crappy first draft. Editing the text. Doing the work.

In the process you will meet with disappointment. Along the road one thing I have never met is regret. Regret lives where I stopped myself of applying, submitting, painting, sewing or writing. Regret is the missed opportunity. Not the opportunity you didn’t even try for.

Before you tell yourself that you will never be the creator you hoped you’d be, ask yourself if you have been committed to the endeavor. The challenge is to get past the disappointments. If you can do that, there will be no regrets.

Rising to Meet the Day