How Creating Art and Following My Passion Helped My Mental Health

 

"Do what you LOVE and you N E V E R work a day in your life." That's what they say right? Now I don't know about all of that because I work the majority of my between content creation and freelance photography and while most day are filled with joy and I love it and am always grateful to be able to have the opportunity to be creative and figure out what I want to do with my life; trust me, it's still work. In fact, I don't know if I've ever worked harder and often times for little or NO monetary compensation.

However, what I cannot put a price on is my happiness and my mental health. And in that, I am paid ten fold. I think while we try not not to let our careers be our WHOLE identity and they're NOT; if we're passionate about what we're doing it's hard not to associate who we are with that and even harder when we don't feel that way about our career. 

For me, it's this balancing act. Both my parents had careers that they loved. My Dad served in the Military for 20 years and my Mom was a Nurse for 35 years and there is not an ounce of time they regretted doing what they did. They always went above and beyond in their duties. And they instilled that in me. So for me, being a creative came with the difficult task of of working a lot of 9-5's that weren't in my area of study or honestly, things that I was even all that good at!

So over the pandemic I enrolled in the "School of Youtube" and began going back to my creative roots and learning photography and videography. With so many great content creators and teachers online I was so inspired! I didn't realize it was possible to learn and work creating all day and not find myself drained: in fact, it fueled me! I could color correct photos for hours! In fact, I even find it soothing. 

What I'm ultimately getting at here is that doing work that doesn't fill your cup just like relationships or anything else in your like it will leave you drained, unhappy and can have a serious impact on your mental health. So I want to encourage you to continue to go after work and relationships, that ' fill YOUR cup!"