A Benediction for the artist wrestling with comparison.

Artist.

Eyes on the prize, darling.

The prize being your art, your creations, your journey.

I see you craning your neck wondering what they are doing. Seeing all the podcasts they’re going on. Seeing their skills develop so quickly. The newspaper articles. The book deals. The freedom they have. The audience. The opportunities. The attention.

I see you. Come back. Come home.

Let me take care of you.

Let me pull the curtains closed around you and show you what is right in front of you. You. Your art. Your journey.

Let me put a blanket over you, tuck you up and hand you a cup of tea and say: Stop. Stop. I mean it. You are exhausting yourself. You are making yourself feel wanting when you are fucking bristling with magic.

Oh my god you are doing so well. Oh my god there is so much magic coming from you. Oh my god you are on the precipice of so much.

You are not falling behind. You are not too late. You are not flagging. I see your hunger, your desire, your ambition. It is holy. But it has nothing to do with THEM. You are on your own divine schedule. Things are falling into place, I promise. Trust.

There is such pride in doing it your way, not their way. You don’t want what they have, because it is not for you. You have your own stuff coming your way. Your art is not like theres, and it shouldn’t be like theres. God forbid it be like theres, when it could be like you. Own your journey. Own this sacred, holy, unique path. It is your path and no one elses. You’re a one time phenomenon in this universe baby. Never to be seen before and never to be seen again, stop wasting time wishing you were something else, when you are so undeniably YOU,

BUT THEY ARE DOING SO MUCH BETTER THAN ME!

Respectfully, I dont give a flying fuck how they are doing. This fractured focus, eyes everywhere, should I be doing more? I deserve it more than them! Why aren’t I as far along as they are? … It is not in alignment. Look around this room at the sparkles and the trinkets, and the creations and the magic you are brewing on your own terms. None of this shit has anything to do with them.

Eyes on the prize darling. Eyes on the next piece of art. Eyes on the next word. The next paint stroke. The next note. THAT is your business.

You have so much going on in that brilliant creative mind of yours. The way you bring art into this world, the way you craft it, speak it into being, it is miraculous.

Come. Home. Artist.

You are on the path.

You are exactly where you are meant to be.

We Need Your Art has a chapter on this topic, she’s out in 13 days …. pre order her now and bless me in ways you can’t fully comprehend.