With Soul: You Can't Trace Over Your Foundation
how learning procreate taught me a valuable lesson about foundations
Happy Monday, friends.
Last night, I had one of those very real, very vivid dreams, and I felt like I just had to share it.
I was back at Siena College, a little older than I am now, and my ex-fling from sophomore summer, let’s call him Patrick, was organizing a career day for current students. Patrick was neurotic and type-A (both in real life and in this dream) and in this dream, Patrick was annoyed I was… different than everyone else. “You don’t have a real career, Leanne. Why are you even here?” he snarled.
Dream Leanne shrugged because frankly, she had no idea either. Out of all the Alumni, it is shocking that they called upon her. During the orientation for the day with other affluent alumni, Patrick kept trying to get me to conform to wearing a black suit. I refused, and he spat “This is why you’re not a success.” back at me, and as an act of revenge, I snuck into his room, unorganized his clothes, which were color coordinated, of course, and laughed loudly on my way out.
The night before the career day, all the alumni who were participating had a fancy dinner and I was left on campus. My game plan was to leave, but we were hungry so we went to the cafeteria. We were met with a buzz of excitement at Lonstromm Hall, all the students swarmed us, taking selfies and thanking me for being there. We sat with a few of them, and when we left that dinner, Dan and I went to the mall to find a black suit, except they were all sold old.
Fortunately, the next morning my best friends surprised me with a selection of my own fun, colorful suits. I wore my favorite Evergreen Suit, and went down to the career day, head tall with a little apprehension.
Patrick was furious I wasn’t wearing black, yelling at me while I walked to find my booth, which was all the way in the back. As I turned the corner I was met with a huge line; everyone wanted to talk to me. As I approached my booth, I saw a cover of a book I wrote, some of my fun merchandise, and just a splash of color in a sea of black, navy, and boring. Behind me, Patrick scoffed and said “CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS? EVERYONE IS AT HER BOOTH!”, before turning on his heel and stomping away.
I woke up, remembering each detail, and realized that dream was about one thing, and one thing only: the only way to my true, authentic life is by not conforming, staying strong in my convictions, and surrounding myself with the best people.
Which felt apropos given that I finally feel at ease with the decisions surrounding my business.
And, yes- I do have extraordinarily vivid dreams like that often.
I have been trying to learn how to draw for about six months now. I bought an iPad, downloaded Procreate, and found a lot of freedom in just having this little doodle space. In fact, my iPad’s name is aptly named “Leanne’s Doodle Noodle.”
Because I’m me, I thought I could just watch videos, download inspiration, and learn to draw by tracing and observing. How hard could it be, right?
Except, it is a skill that needs more than jumping to step four of the program. I realized that while yes, I can trace someone else’s work to learn how to do different brush stroke sizes, textures, and more- I’m only tracing the surface of that creation.
In life, like drawing, sometimes we try to jump to step four in the process. We don’t always want to do the start-up work it takes to build something sustainable. Sometimes, we do that because we feel behind- sometimes, we do that because there’s a shortcut presented to us. We crave that instant gratification, only exasperated by social media and the constant information infiltrating our downtime.
But, if we really want something in life, we need to start at the foundation.
I’ve watched videos of artists creating incredible pieces- all of which started from an abstract sketch. I’ve watched beautiful cakes being built, all starting with a strong batter.
Regardless of what you’re trying to accomplish, whether it’s weight loss, writing a novel, learning to draw, or becoming a maven in PR, the key to getting to where you want to go is to ignore the shortcuts and build a strong foundation.
You can start at step four, but it will cost you at step six, or even step twenty.
If you truly want something, go back to the foundation.
If you’re truly passionate about something, go about it slowly and with intention.
If you truly want to improve or learn more, to grow, then you have to take the time to peel back all the layers and put the pieces back together.
Sure, you can trace and image… but, it’s must more satisfying learning how to do it all on your own.
JOURNAL PROMPT OF THE WEEK
I want to learn how to_____________________________________
This week, think of something new you want to do. Let’s make it fun- maybe you want to learn how to play the bassoon, or sew. Think of a new hobby or creative outlet.
As always, I’ll go first.
I want to learn how to paint and draw. I find it to be a beautiful expression of creativity and how you see the world, and my hope is that I can start sharing a new form of art.
Our Year Anniversary is this Wednesday. Admittedly, the beginning was bumpy, but the idea came to me that day and that is worth celebrating. Salt with Soul taught me consistency. It taught me how to focus, and challenged me to not be afraid and give up. The analytics, the comments, and your e-mails all showed me that what I have to say is valuable to someone, and it’s a space that has changed my life for the better. Simply, Salt with Soul gave me my passion back.
In an effort to lay a foundation, stay focused, and do all the things I talk about here on Mondays, I am streamlining some more things. Now that my photography website truly reflects who I am, it’s time some more pieces of my puzzle do, too. Stay tuned for a special announcement on Wednesday.
This weekend gave me a few gifts, but possibly the most exciting one: I finally broke my fictional writer’s block. Friends, the story is good too. I’ve already written three chapters, and it flows through me. This is the book that gets finished.
As always, I’m grateful you’re here. We’ll see you Wednesday for a little celebration and Thursday with a “Best of” Round Up of some of your favorite recipes.