“I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I’ve never let it keep me from a single thing that I wanted to do.” ~Georgia O’Keeffe
Truth be told, I haven’t always been fearless. Despite the inspiring words of Georgia O’Keeffe, I think I was born scared. My mother often reminded me that she was “deathly ill” when she was pregnant with me, and by the time I took my first breath, I was swaddled in shame.
Like most little girls, I loved playing make-believe. The workbench in my daddy’s garage became my stage as I regaled our neighbors with skits and stories. However, any hope of a career in the performing arts was shattered when I was ten years old, and my father passed away. My mother, now a widow with five kids, suffered from a broken heart and a heart condition that prevented her from working. The unthinkable happened just six years later when she died during open heart surgery, leaving me, at sixteen, to navigate the world on my own. I woke up every day holding my breath and waiting for the other shoe to drop. Sadly, I have allowed fear to stop me from doing what I wanted to do.
It took a lifetime of facing those fears to find my voice and discover my creative outlet through art. To put it bluntly, art saved me. Painting has allowed me to process and release deeply rooted emotions, expressing myself with colors in a way that words never could.
My lifelong quest for meaning has led me along an eclectic career path. From fitness instructor to inspirational speaker, life coach, hypnotherapist, Reiki master, missionary, writer, and chaplain, each role has called forth my divine purpose and guided me toward my new career as an artist. And I’m having the time of my life!
