I quit.

I got a retail job and went to college.

I hadn't painted in years.

It was a summer evening and I was watching my dad shoot hoops in the backyard. He had asked me why I didn't paint anymore and I promptly told him I didn't paint because I had chosen to do something else.

"It's impossible to make money as an artist," I responded. "I just don't enjoy it anymore. I'm not interested in art. I'm going to be an organizational psychologist. You can make a lot of money in business!" I proudly told him. He kept shooting hoops and I knew he was thinking about the years of my childhood spent in art lessons, my teenage art shows, painting murals downtown, my early dreams.

"You know," he began, sending another basketball towards the hoop. "There are poor dentists." I looked at him confused. He continued, "There are poor people in every field if you take a close look. Poor and successful. It doesn't matter what you go into, as long as you make wise and informed decisions".

I didn't know how to respond, so I continued to sit and watch him shoot hoops. I had never considered his point before. My dad played basketball in high school and tennis in college. His passion in life was sports, so I shouldn't have been surprised when he began talking about athletes.

"I read an article about high school athletes." *swoosh* "The article talked about how many of the most promising athletes, who had the most potential, quit. They would become discouraged by one thing or another and quit before things got good. I guess, in the end, it doesn't matter how much potential you have if you quit."

I thought about that conversation a lot. "It doesn't matter what you go into, as long as you make wise and informed decisions" stuck out in my mind, along with "...it doesn't matter how much potential you have if you quit."

That conversation changed my life. It changed my perspective. My college business essays were suddenly all about successful artists and how their business practices made them wealthy. I decided to try again.

 

-An important discussion from 2018 that brought my focus back to chasing my dreams as an artist.

At the time, I had no idea how much success and joy lay ahead of me in a career involving art, but I'm glad I followed my father's encouragement.