A New Year, a New Self Portrait and a note on What’s Important.

Spread the loveHello everyone! Happy New Year, and Happy February!  If you’re wondering why I’m saying Happy New Year in February, well it’s because for some reason every year, even though I’ve planned not too, January never seems to “work out” for me. That is, in a creative sense. Call it burn out, call it […]

Hello everyone! Happy New Year, and Happy February! 

If you’re wondering why I’m saying Happy New Year in February, well it’s because for some reason every year, even though I’ve planned not too, January never seems to “work out” for me. That is, in a creative sense. Call it burn out, call it being overwhelmed, maybe it’s even seasonal depression, but January is not my month. And that’s okay! I use this month to focus on other things, brainstorm for the year ahead and what-not, but mostly to rest and regroup. I guess it’s my way of hibernating.

Now, I am slowly getting back into things and for todays post I wanted to share something with you I find very interesting.

Here’s a Quick Story…

Kung Fu Panda 4 is coming out later this year. Yes I’m talking about a children’s movie series, and yes it brought me to a deep realization. Because the new Kung Fu Panda is being released soon, my family and I wanted to catch up on all of the previous Kung Fu Panda movies.

We started with the first of the series, which is rightfully named just, Kung Fu Panda. I’ve seen this movie a handful of times. I usually end up falling asleep to it, but for this instance I stayed awake and enjoyed the whole film and one very IMPORTANT part that specifically stuck out to me. If you’ve seen the movie before, you’ll know what I’m talking about. 

A break down of the movie…

Towards the end of the film, Po has finished with his training as The Dragon Warrior, and now it is time for him to receive The Dragon Scroll. The Dragon Scroll is the missing piece, the key, the only solution to saving his village and defeating the evil tyrant Tai Lung. Pretty serious stuff.

He receives the scroll, unrolls it slowly, and reveals… nothing. But this isn’t the part I’m talking about.

A little while after, Po and the villagers are evacuating the village because Tai Lung is on his way. Po meets up with his dad, a goose, and Po is feeling defeated. His dad is trying to make him happy, and finally he reveals a deep secret, THE SECRET to his secret ingredient soup. To Po’s surprise, and much like The Dragon Scroll, the secret ingredient is… nothing. This also isn’t the part I’m talking about.

After Po’s dad reveals there is no secret ingredient, Po asks him, “It’s just plain old noodle soup? You don’t add some kind of special sauce or something?”

AND THIS NEXT PART IS THE PART THAT I’M TALKING ABOUT.

Po’s dad says he doesn’t need to add a special ingredient. He says, “To make something special, you just have to believe it’s special.”

Did this old man goose just blow my mind?!

Here’s a link to the clip of the movie I’m talking about (Fast forward to 1:50)…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJcBqwKq0qw

This brings me to my point…

A point of IMPORTANCE. Or, as Po’s Dad says, something being SPECIAL.

The definition of Important is, of great significance or value; likely to have a profound effect on success, survival, or well-being.

But what is important?! Well, it’s whatever you want it to be! I think that’s the best part. What is important to you? Much like Po’s Dad’s soup, it’s only special because he believes it’s special. So in turn, if you believe something is special, then it will become special to you. This may sound simple, but it’s something I have to remind myself of frequently as I can lose track of what’s important to me. Do you struggle with this sometimes too? I would love to know if you have a way to remind yourself on what’s important to you in your life, let me know in the comments!

Special vs. Important

I’ve changed the wording from special to important, because going into the new year, I want to focus on what’s truly important to me. You could call it special though if you’d like! The word “important” just has more gravity for me for some reason. Whatever word you choose, I hope this will help you figure out what’s important, or special, to you. On the opposite end, I think if we give things that aren’t important to us less energy and focus, then we can spend more time working towards the things that are important and valuable to us. Does this make sense? Basically why waste your energy on things that aren’t important to you.

A quick activity to try…

Let’s give power and energy to those things that are important to us! For me today, I’m focusing on my art, more connection offline and giving more time to reading. Here’s a list of what’s important to me

1: creating or finding a space for my art. (see my post on renting a space here)

2: painting more. (this seems to be a constant on my list!)

3: writing more.

4: getting more involved in-person through my community.

5: setting up my online shop. 

So far, that’s it! And these aren’t in any particular order, but if you would want to list yours in order of importance that could be fun. I hope because I’m giving these things importance, maybe everyone around me will find them important too!

A Self Portrait…

To explain my portrait a bit more, I’m very much into reading books lately. Instead of doom scrolling on my phone, I read. I love finding a new book (any other goodreads lovers out there?), or highlighting quotes I find interesting, hence the highlighter in my back pocket. The leaves in the air are a nod to a project I’m working on, and the pencil and paintbrush are nods to my art focus. Lastly, I’m sitting outside, which being outside is always important to me, and my little mouse friend in the picture is a reminder to keep my work whimsical.

So what’s important to you? What’s special to you? Finishing that sketchbook? Sharing your work more publicly? Selling your work for the first time either online or through a show? Whatever it is, it WILL BE IMPORTANT, IT WILL BE SPECIAL, because you’ve given it that energy and power it deserves.

Thank you for reading along, and have fun creating!

-Kay