Entry 006

Entry 006

This last month has been a helluva experience. My 2nd post of 2023, a lot has happened in this last month. The highs and lows of entrepreneurship definitely revealed itself, but I’m grateful for the lessons learned. April was one of those ones. I was sought out to be on the panel at BroccoliCity, which I’m extremely grateful for. Shout outs to Keish from The PR Alliance, this is a testimony to tap in with your people. We really live in a time where we can create our own ecosystem and we gotta take advantage and use our resources. The BroccoliCity event was everything I could imagine. The audience were very receptive and loved what the advice I gave to navigating in the creative industry. And that’s what I’m all about. If I’m able to reach people in my industry and expand their knowledge, I can’t ask for anything more.

But with full transparency, life will bring you the lows that come along with the highs. In major contrast, I had a medical emergency two days before BroccoliCon where I had to go to the hospital. I don’t know what was going on, but I was having chest pains and my heart was racing extremely fast. All in all, I checked out to be okay from the tests, but it’s not encouraging when the medical experts can’t detect what the issue could be.

I had to take a pause and self-reflect of what really caused this episode. Something that has never happened before, I did realize that I “work” all the time. Now in my eyes, I love art. I love creating, so I don’t think of the things I do all that time as “work”. But, technically it is because it’s how I make a living. I need to intentionally take breaks and keep my mind off of my art practice. And I’m hard headed because my girl and accountant tells me this ALL THE TIME. And I guess God said, “Yeah it's time. If you not gon’ do it, I’m going to make you listen.”

From this incident, I've been trying to change things that I can control. Not being given a diagnosis, I have intentionally been more conscious of my diet, taking intentional breaks during work, fasting from social media (finishing a 2 week fast now), and completing breathing exercises/meditating (surprisingly, this has been very helpful. I never thought about doing this before).

This has been eye opening for me in regards to self care. How can you enjoy the fruits of your labor, if you run yourself into the ground? It’s a healthy balance you have to keep in this world man. And I literally just posted about wanting to work all the time because it’s my passion. I still stand by it being my passion, but you CAN’T do this all the time. It’s not beneficial, I don’t care how bad you want it or your drive for your goals. And if you don’t stop, your body will stop for you.

Moving onto more exciting news. I’m in the works to add more art in the city. I just want to make the city look damn good. There are two mural projects I will be starting in the next couple months, and I can’t wait to reveal them. I learned the impact that public art can have on the community and from the Patterson Park Basketball Court project, I saw the effects first hand. Specifically, being able to spread my artwork to the world is the impact I look for. I’m going to say it every time, “Evoking that emotion from the people when they see my work is what I strive for.” That’s using my God given talents to make a change and affect others.

I also plan on dropping my full collection, Champagne Flowers, later this year. I revealed my first piece at the Reed’s Fund Artists for Autism art show last month. The reaction I got from the attendees was what I needed and turned me up for the rest of the series.

All in all, life has its peaks and valleys, and I’m honestly just grateful to be here to experience it. Finding that balance and maintaining your faith and values guarantees you will always win. Art fuels me and I know it’s my calling. We roll with the punches and as long as I’m improving each day I can’t ask for much more.

Appreciate ya’ll

- JLaw