314. The End is always a beginning…
Well, today is July 20th and 365 is officially at an end. It’s been 365 days of art and chaos all right, and, as painful as some of them were, I wouldn’t change any of it, since it got me here, for better or for worse.
Honestly, I think it’s better, rather than worse.
It’s been a year of changes and upheavals, of love, of loss, of pain, of joy, ecstasy, anger, frustration, growth, living, leaving, learning, and choosing. Most of all, it’s been a year of Discovery.
I’ve discovered that life doesn’t have to be a duty and that we don’t have to be who we think others want us to be; that to be truly happy, even if you are in pain, that you have to be true to one person’s motivations, and that is your own. Ask yourself first what you really want to do. Then, ask yourself what you really, really want to do. Then, consider that, and ask yourself what you really, really, really want to do. Then, the hard part is going out and doing it.
Living an authentic life is the only thing that I have ever done that has felt this right. It has not been easy. Honestly, some days, it’s been taking things one minute at a time, other times, you get to take it one hour, or a day at a time. It’s when you get to take things a week or a month at a time that you know you’ve hit pay dirt – that is, when you’ve been having so much fun and doing so many things that your bills go unpaid, your journal hasn’t been written in, the house is a mess, your website of 365 creations goes unupdated, and all you can do is smile that you know that things are really, really, really good and that this, this is what you really, really, really want to do.
So I have.
I didn’t quite get my 365 creations, but I’ve honestly made so many more that it is ridiculous. I realized while doing this project that some days we make one things, other days, we make a thousand – but really, overall, every day we are alive is a creation if we choose it to be.
Our lives, our aspirations, our hopes, our journeys, our dreams, our loves and losses and pain, and ecstasy and joy and all of that beautiful, horrible in-between stuff that we call everyday life is truly the most magnificent, one-of-a-kind creation that is, has, or ever will be. We are truly the most beautiful creations. As a friend of mine one wrote to me, “you are a gift.”
Please, take that to heart and remember to make your lives extraordinary.
With love and respect,
jake
p.s. thanks to teya, lisa, tisha, dan, marty, john, kathleen, jason, eric, laura, rita, mom, gordon faulkner, paul, penney, pam, amanda palmer, beth & kayla, lunggwai, shiverstheninja, charliespats, neil gaiman, and everyone and anyone who talked to me or inspired me or pushed me or loved me or hated me or challenged me to be something better today than I was yesterday.
THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR LOVE. DOUBLE-FUCKING-RAINBOW ACROSS THE UNIVERSE TO YOU ALL!!!
313. A snippet.
This is from a preliminary design I did for AFP, which may or may not appear on Post War Trade as a greeting card. It was supposed to be uncaptioned, but I couldn’t resist.
Glad to have been given the opportunity to work on it. Thanks Beth, Kayla, and Amanda.
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