Course Correction (A Life Update)
At the end of 2023, I was working at a gym selling memberships, and I felt myself disappearing. For everyone I worked with, the gym wasn’t just a job—it was their whole personality. I’d listen to them bro-out about PRs and body fat percentages, while I sat there feeling completely disconnected from everything around me.
Sometimes, on my 30 min lunch breaks, I'd clock out and drive 10 minutes down the road towards the highway, walk around Michael's and dream about painting on those the large, blank gallery-wrapped canvases - but only for 10 minutes - because then I'd have to drive back just in time to clock back in.
The shift came when I created this 3D collage I later titled Course Correction. I see now how everything in my life changed after I allowed myself to create again... After I started to express what I was feeling and which direction I wanted my life to go in.
I began sketching again, took on a few commissions, and eventually enrolled in the Milan Mastery Program. My growth as an artist since then has been pretty dramatic—you can see it in the difference between my first oil painting in February 2024 and the version I redid at the end of that year.
Get a closer look the painting on the right, titled Happy Little Bluebird, HERE.
In March 2025, I started teaching as a paint instructor. The place is actually located on the same road as the gym I used to work at, but closer to the highway and less than a mile from Michael's. At this job, I'm in my element, "bro-ing out" with the other art instructors about oil paints, art history, and color palettes. It feels like the complete opposite to what my life was like working at the gym.
I have learned so much from and enjoyed this role, but with the unpredictable schedule and cancelations, I've decided to step into another role with more stability that will give me the foundation to build my career as an artist.
There's this underlying belief in society that quitting = failure but it's actually a skill to know when to leave a place that might be out of alignment with your purpose and keeping you from reaching your full potential.
I'm already so much further along than I was when I was working at the gym, less than 2 years ago. My smokestack paintings are being shown at City Lights Gallery. And I’ve just launched my podcast, Perfect to Prolific, which is all about overcoming perfectionism and taking action on your creative dreams!
Thank you for being here. If you are local and you’d like to join me for one of my last painting classes in the next two weeks send me an email. To be the first to know about future workshops and exhibitions, sign up for my email list below. And if you’re in the middle of your own "course correction", I’d love to hear your story in the comments. 💕
