If there’s one thing I learned over the years, gratitude is more than just being thankful in your heart or blurting out a perfunctory nicety. How does gratefulness hold all the pieces of my life and career together?
To be honest, I believe it’s something I tend to take for granted on many days and overlook in my so-called busyness. Building an art career (or any career, for that matter) is not a one-woman job. Whatever success I’ve achieved in my life is a result of an amalgamation of creativity, work and faith — mine and yours.
Being thankful, is not just a word or a fuzzy feeling. It’s really a lot of work and conscious effort.
How have I made gratitude real and tangible, really? Hmm. Good question. Let me count the ways (5 of them, so far).
- When I first started my art career early 2000s, there was no such thing as self-promotion because social media did not exist back then. Simply put, our careers back then relied mostly on traditional print and TV media editors. I got lucky and writers sought me out on their own. All it took was one significant write-up in a major broadsheet to get the wheels turning. Each time a local editor published something about my work, I always delivered a sincere hand-written thank-you note along with a small print or illustration.
- Over time, whenever I would hit a major milestone in my work, I would reach out to past establishments, writers and editors, to give them an update to thank them for helping me get a leg up and for giving me a chance to get my work out there.They didn’t have to do anything for me, but they did so because they must have found some value in what I do. And that is what I’m grateful for. I still touch base with many of them more than a decade later.
- When I come across a book that has a profound impact in my life, I reach out to the bestselling author a letter via their Facebook page or email. I express how their words and insights have moved me in an unforeseen but magical direction. Them writing me back is of no consequence to me. But guess what? THEY DO. Sometimes two weeks late if they’re very busy, but they write back a sincere note with an apology for their delayed response. And they are equally thankful to hear from you and me.
- When I used to work in the 9-to-5, I did the rounds of job interviews. And I went to a LOT! Like seriously, even the ones that may seem slightly off-tangent. But I believed in forming links through even the vaguest of job applications. Sometimes the interviewer would deem me unqualified/overqualified for the position BUT knew someone who needed someone like me. He or she then passed my credentials to others which led me to eventually landing me a job. Every time I’d come out of an interview, I remember sending out a brief e-mail upon returning home (because back in the day you could only email from the home computer!), thanking them for their time and energy. It might not mean a lot, but it’s my way of acknowledging the other that I appreciate them for considering me worthy of their time at the very least. Gratitude is also a skill to be practiced. When I used to work in a PR firm, I was taught that all thank-you notes and responses after a correspondence, event or receiving something nice needs to be sent out IMMEDIATELY (no excuses nowadays with social media and smart phones!). Now that I’m self-employed, I still continue this practice whenever I come home from any sort of meeting, face-to-face or online, results favourable or not. I say “thank you” not because I need to get something out of it, but I do it because I think the other deserves to hear it.
- Finally, I count my blessings whenever I catch myself griping about something that is not up to par with my expectations. When I catch myself in a spiritual snag, I blurt something out under my breath, sometimes struggling especially on days when things are going nowhere where I want it to. “Thank you for ____ ” or “I am grateful that ____”. Yes, I whisper it out loud because I need to hear myself say it. And it can be for anything, big and small, and the most trivial of things: from lying down on a comfortable bed, to having art supplies, to having all my faculties about and being a fully abled and functioning human being, to having my husband and Jones on the couch with me, or the kind words someone shared with me that day. It’s easy to feel thankful when you get exactly what you want. The days that feel a bit more parched and wanting, however, are what I feel is the real challenge of my own sense of gratitude.
I think it’s also quite easy to dwell on what is not that it really takes will and conscious energy to embrace the is and the now. The temptation to need and want abounds in many aspects of my life that gratitude acts as my anchor and beacon all at once, to shine the light on who and where I am supposed to be, which is right here and now.
And that at this very moment, as an artist and everyday human being, I am gratefully enough.
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