A 9 to 5 just to stay Alive? How Come?
A 9 to 5 just to stay Alive? How Come?
Fuck the straight and narrow path. Sorry not sorry. It’s not for me. It never has been. I’d say I’m spiritual, that’s for sure. I believe in doing good and being good, and having that returned to you - through karma. But, my church? I’d call nature or the ocean. My religion? I’d call; love, travel, or just positive thinking in general. And when I’m in search of direction I usually search for a profoundly written indie film to awaken areas in my mind any pessimism or pessimist darkens. Whenever I’m unsure of my next life course or I just need to calm any anxiety, I’ll watch a Zach Braff film.
Garden State takes the cake, but Last Kiss takes a close second. While I re-watch films, as probably only directors do, I feel inspiration to write, followed by an inspiration to create art. So while I watch – I write. It’s been awhile since I’ve shared any personal writing via blog, so here it goes:
In a year my life has changed both drastically and dramatically. Change is inevitable. Evolution is necessary. But these truths take a ton of adjustment, mental fortitude, spiritual tests, reconfiguration and reevaluation.
Last year my life was totally different. Last Year, I left my 9 to 5, and the pursuit of another job, to lead a 100% creative lifestyle. I now travel back and forth from the bay to LA creating, and am leading a much happier life.
I’ve been holding off on this post for some time now - the “9 to 5, fulltime artist success story”. Yeah right. “If everything is dipped in gold, then baby it will never grow”, Jhene Aiko candidly sings. It’s been a journey and I am finally getting to the brighter end of the tunnel. Robert Frost said, “The best way out is always through” – so, I’m happy to say I tumbled through. I tumbled down the proverbial rabbit hole like Alice and am now heading home.
Growing pains, anxiety, lack of sleep. I experienced all of these lows. Something astrology says about Gemini’s, however, is that we intuitively feel change coming so we make it happen before it happens to us. When life has to change because you resist that change, it often isn’t as pleasant. However, self-imposed change is pretty hard too. I don’t know about everyone else, but change is certainly a shock to my system. But I do it because I like to conquer my own limitations. I uprooted myself from the life I used to have in the name of creative evolution. It was a path I knew I had to follow. Creativity comes in whispers and the universe went from soft whispers to loud screams that I needed a change. Balancing my creative life with 9 to 5’s since college graduation felt like slow death to me. It made me feel stagnate and uninspired.
Today, I feel blessed to say I feel very very much alive. I made a life choice for my own survival and I am reaping the benefits of that choice daily. A year ago I took a stand and decided to be intentional with my life. It was kind of like jumping off the edge of a cliff (which I’m stoked to say I also did a few weeks back).
I set an intention and went down a new road. Now I spend most of my days locked in my art studio creating for various clients. I sell my own art collections and have the freedom to travel. Western society imposes thoughts upon us about how we “should” live – what our familial structure should look like, what we should be doing by a certain age, what work ethic we should have, how we should dress, how we should love, and even what kind of cars we should drive. Fuck that.
Shifting my life for career evolved all corners of my life. My love life unintentionally evolved as my career did. Through a series of failed love attempts after a profoundly serious long term relationship I realized what I did not want. I realized I did not want any half relationships or any half men who were half committed. My last boyfriend called these men “phantoms”. My life has evolved full circle too much to accept any figment of the truth. The real makes me happy and I now tell the story of real evolution through my art.
By eliminating the negatives I’m slowly reaping the benefits of all the positives my life has to offer. More positive elements enter daily. I awake and affirm that I trust myself, on the daily. We can all save ourselves, but we have to listen. A 9 to 5 just to stay alive? More power to those who can, but I’ve found a path that makes me feel MUCH much more alive.
All love.
xo
- Brette Sims, STUK Founder