Recovering & new lenses

Above: the woods of Horning's Hideout, where FaerieWorlds was held last year!

Merry meet!

Bit of a random photo this time; I don't really have anything specific to say, just a quick update.

I'm almost recovered from a nasty flu that has kept me home from work the past two days. Monday night I started being violently ill, which lasted until Tuesday morning... needless to say, I stayed home on Tuesday. And today as well, in fact. I thought I might be recovered by this morning, but I really wasn't... I was just sore, exhausted, weak, and dehydrated to the nines. Sounds like I caught this from a baby shower I attended on Sunday, as several other attendees ended up coming down with the same thing as well. Ugh... I just hope that the mother-to-be recovers quickly!

Anyway... I hate stomach flus. Really can't handle it! Luckily the Fox was here to take care of me, and he was so great... stayed up all night with me and made sure I was ok. I'm so lucky to have my Fox. It's so clear that he's in it for the long haul; he's not afraid of getting through the tough times with me, right there holding my hand.

So that's been a blessing, anyway... to have someone helping me through it. Otherwise, being sick is really awful! I guess I'm lucky (knocks on wood) that I'm in generally good health most of the time. I can't imagine dealing with a chronic illness like so many people have to do every day.

In other news... it's March now! How did that happen? I managed to finish the daily drawing challenge that I think I mentioned in a previous post... well, almost every day anyway. I missed a couple days here and there. But I think that's pretty good. And hopefully I was entered into the draw to win a gift card to that art store!

It's been quite helpful to my motivation and inspiration to draw every day like that, even when I didn't "feel like it." I managed to get several good pieces out of it, as well as a lot of practice. In fact, I have made a couple prints of one painting and I have sold two copies already! To random strangers, no less. So that's encouraging!

I'm rather ashamed of my last post, I have to admit. I've cooled down a bit since then and have managed to look at things from a different point of view. (After asking a good friend about it, she said, "Well, I've never been a jealous person, so I don't really know what to tell you!" Argh. That made me feel even more like a jerk.) I have much to be thankful for, myself, and it seems that I've been so busy looking enviously at others' situations that I've forgotten to put my focus where it should be -- on my own situation, and how I can best fulfill my own destiny. (Dramatic, yes? Ever since watching "Merlin" I've taken a liking to the idea of having a destiny. It's now my destiny to be an artist; I've already tried to avoid it once, and that didn't work, so... might as well give in!)

I'm not doing art to be popular or successful or rich. If I wanted to be those things I would probably become a politician or a businessperson or a drug dealer or a model. (I'm tall and skinny enough, especially after the last few days... ugh.) I do art because it's what I have always done naturally, and it's what I am drawn to doing, and it's how I express things that can't be expressed in words. I do it because it's part of me. I think that is a pretty good reason to do it.

Therefore, it shouldn't matter who has the most likes or who gets the most attention or who sells the most prints or whatever. (Yes, I'm happy to be selling prints, but why not? I want to share my art with people, and I'm sure not going to give away years of thankless work for free, am I now? If I do that people will immediately take advantage. That's just how the world works. Imagine a plumber giving away their services for free. They would never have time to breathe!)

Thinking of it this way helps put it in perspective for me. I needn't worry about other people's situations and how it might be "easier" for them to do the things I want to do. That doesn't matter. Everyone has a different path, and sometimes the crooked paths lead to the nicest views.

So, yeah. I feel a bit bad about saying all that trash-talk. May the fates forgive me.

In other news, I'm missing pagan group tonight because I'm still kind of recovering from this illness. I'm sad to miss it, because now that we have a focus for each meeting I know what I'm missing. That's ok though. I will study up on Ostara on my own time.

I'll be back to work tomorrow; I think my boss will probably have a mental breakdown if I'm away for one more day. There's only the two of us in that department during the week, so any disruption is kind of a big deal. I feel bad for staying home today too, but I think it was for the best. I still felt horrible this morning and most of today.

Anyway... not too much else to say, just wanted to check in and chastise my past self for being such a petty little so-and-so...

Destiny!

I'll just yell that whenever I feel envious of someone in the future. It'll be great.

Until next time... bright blessings!