Finding Freedom Through Art: A Post-Surgery Perspective

I sat on a gray carpet in the cool, windowless basement. I was in my sister’s house, looking at the pre-op papers scattered across the floor, on top of and underneath assorted tubes of oil paint, pastels, and my easel.

The headaches were horrible but I hid in the basement to escape from the quiet but suffocating anxiety of my loved ones in the rooms above my head. We were all waiting for my scheduled brain surgery at Mass General Hospital, hoping it would bring answers.

It was at that moment I let go of my perfectionism. Who cared about being perfect?! Dali is quoted as saying,

“Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it.”

In that time before my surgery, wondering if I would die or go blind, I painted purely because I wanted to; I stopped thinking about whether it was good because I could feel time slipping away from me. 

If this is all the time I have left, how am I using it?

Hey there! 👋 I’m Carrie. Here on Artist Strong, I help self-taught artists with home studios who feel stuck with their art move from wondering what’s next to confidently expressing themselves through unique, original art. To date, thousands have joined the community.

👉🏽👉🏽👉🏽 If you feel like gaps in your learning hold you back from making your best art, sign up and watch my workshop, “How to Create Art from Your Imagination.” It’s completely free, and the link is in the description below.

After my surgery and full recovery I returned to teaching high school art. One day a colleague confided in me that he had survived cancer. I can still see him looking around to see if anyone was listening in on our conversation, like we were conspiring. He talked about how productive he was as an artist right after… how he let go and just made art.

Something lifted in that moment and all of the cultural rules we abide by fade as we connect with the things our heart calls us to do. 

I felt seen.

It’s really easy to get caught up in the day-to-day things that fill our life. Equally so, it’s easy to get lost in time-wasting, mental-health harming games of endlessly scrolling through social media. OR, looking at endless YouTube art tutorials because that almost feels like making art, right? 

Marie Forleo recently shared this stat during her promotion for her class called Time Genius: if you spend 30 minutes a day on social media, that means you are spending nearly 11,000 minutes a year on your phone. That’s 182 hours, or almost 8 DAYS. 8 DAYS!?!?!

I nearly gagged on my chocolate chip cookie when I read that. And I know I can spend way more than I should, much more than 30 minutes, on those platforms. 

It got me thinking about my time in the basement and what I chose to do with my time when I had nothing left to lose.

What do you think is THE NUMBER 1 thing people tell me they wish that had more of for their art?

You guessed it.

Time.

Yes, we have lots of responsibilities (shout out to all the fellow caregivers out there). Yes, there are always chores to be done. Yes, our lives are full. 

But I bet many of you also find time to mindlessly scroll through social media like I do. Every. Single. Day.

👉🏽👉🏽👉🏽 I’d love to challenge you here to hop on your phone and look at your daily time spent, either on the phone as a whole or on social media. Be brave and post it below.

I love the power of the internet. I wouldn’t be here today, doing the work I do, without social media, the internet, and other technologies. But how mindful are we actually being with our time?

And is our time spent actually aligned with our values?

For me, this means I’ve stopped reading email and social media and news as the first act of my day. In the past I’ve set a timer while I’m on Instagram so I don’t get distracted and wonder where the past hour has gone. Especially since I could be using that time drawing, painting, or embroidering, or… you get the point.

I want to be purposeful with how I show up in my life. This means going on social media only to engage with people in the community, not mindlessly scroll through new Reels.

It means setting up my phone with a tool called Brick.app to have my social media default blocked so I only use them when I want to – and have to consciously take extra steps to unlock them to pop on and use them.

And it has me curious: where else in my life am I ignoring or avoiding the time sucks that keeps me from making more art?

How much time do we really need to make art?

Here’s the thing. I’m not sitting here from the top of some high horse acting like I don’t sit and numb out with social media because I do. I’m also building in structures to help me do it less, so I can prioritize things I really value like being present with my daughter, and making more art.

We don’t need hours and hours everyday to make progress.

I spoke about this in a recent video where I discussed having a daily minimum expectation for your art rather than some big, hard to achieve, expectation for the art.

I really, really encourage you to hop on over and watch this video either here or in the links below after this one. It could be my most important video to date for artists trying to show up more for their art.

By committing to making 10-15 minutes of art MOST days, I show up more than I ever did before. I’m working on multiple series, some work pretty large in scale, and I’m not exaggerating when I tell you I’m also making progress.

So many people fight back on this. But it can be this simple. I have a minimum expectation. And when I get started, there are many days that I surpass my minimum and end up working for 30 minutes or an hour. And for me, as a primary caregiver, that’s amazing. 

I’m making new art, applying to exhibitions, applying for grants, and continuing to grow as an artist. All things I want to do and feel aligned to my creative practice.

Isn’t that the whole point?

👉🏽👉🏽👉🏽Do you struggle to find time for your work? Can you revisit your day and routine to better incorporate art into your day? Tell me more in the comments below.

Defining Legacy

It’s been over 15 years since my surgery and, for better or worse, that sense of freedom and urgency has faded. But, when I have work I want to do and perfectionism is trying to take hold and the siren of social media is calling my name, I try to bring myself back to that moment in the basement when I really understood the cliché “life is short.” 

We don’t know how long we have left on the planet and I’m going to spend it doing the things that matter most, which include my art.

One legacy we leave is how we choose to spend our time living. That time spent says something about the life we led, the things and people we loved, and prioritized. 

How do you plan to spend yours?

If you’re ready to make art a priority in your life and want to explore making art in a unique style, I have just the thing. It’s called Self-Taught to Self-Confident, and it will help you move from feeling stuck, wondering what’s next to confidently creating a series of artworks that you can share with loved ones (and even sell).

Choose a time from my calendar here so we can discuss where you are at with your art, where you want to be, and see if I’m a good fit to help.

Thanks so much for watching. Remember: proudly call yourself an artist.

Together we are Artist Strong.