I have multiple journals going at once, most of which are “play space” for me to utilize. Which means I use that journal to play with color, styles, textures and sometimes (like this one) I utilize the piece on my blog. I encourage artists to create a safe place to play. A place where they can work, doodle, do anything they please with no intention of sharing it, unless they choose to.
In this journal I am playing with black and white, adding touches of color here and there to emphasize a quote or phrase. In here there are no rules, no right or wrong, no criticisms or expectations to produce. Many of the pages have marks or ideas which are in process, some to be finished some may simple progress. This is a safe place for me to work.
Somewhere in all our lives we developed our own work ethic. How and why we work…no matter what it is we do that we call work. And some of us have a stronger work ethic than others. We learned it from our parents, from working a job, from joining groups and delivering on projects. We learned that hard work is a good thing, a GREAT thing that builds our own self esteem and self worth. We learned that the tough job is the one that makes us cuss out loud one day and cheer the next. It makes us frustrated and tests our skills, then leads us towards success in a way we never imagined possible.
Work is something many people try very hard to avoid. Work is something some people can never stop doing. Work can be a salvation during times of trouble or strife, while also being a place to avoid dealing with everything else in our life because work is easier. Work may be a four letter word, yet it is our attitude and mental mindset towards what we do for work that compels us forward or drives us to ruin as we try to avoid it. In order for things to get done, someone has got to do the work. Be it the laundry or running a country, someone has got to put in the time and effort to make the right decisions to move everything along. If no one works, nothing gets done.
So what is your “work”? Is it chores, making money, creating, building, tearing down, Developing others or avoiding any of that in order to do as little work as possible? No matter how you structure your life, no matter what you call it, our lives are made into what we want by doing the work. We can be blessed by work or spend our days grousing about it. Because we we know, it is not the work that is the hard part, it is wrapping our minds and our efforts around all that we do that can make or break our life. Maybe it is time to just get busy, do the work, and reward ourselves and our life with a job well done. Isn’t your life worth a bit more hard work?
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