The Goal Is To Never Stay The Same. I Always Want To Be Changing And Evolving. Thats The Whole Point

“The goal is to never stay the same. I always want to be changing and evolving. That’s the whole point of life and the whole point of making art is to be constantly moving.”

— Sufjan Stevens

Want to learn something new in 2022??

Absolute beginner adult ballet series (fabulous beginning teacher)

40 piano lessons for beginners (some of the best explanations for piano I’ve ever seen)

Excellent basic crochet video series

Basic knitting (probably the best how to knit video out there)

Pre-Free Figure Skate Levels A-D guides and practice activities (each video builds up with exercises to the actual moves!)

How to draw character faces video (very funny, surprisingly instructive?)

Another drawing character faces video

Literally my favorite art pose hack

Tutorial of how to make a whole ass Stardew Valley esque farming game in Gamemaker Studios 2??

Introduction to flying small aircrafts

French/Dutch/Fishtail braiding

Playing the guitar for beginners (well paced and excellent instructor)

Playing the violin for beginners (really good practical tips mixed in)

Color theory in digital art (not of the children’s hospital variety)

Retake classes you hated but now there’s zero stakes:

Calculus 1 (full semester class)

Learn basic statistics (free textbook)

Introduction to college physics (free textbook)

Introduction to accounting (free textbook)

Learn a language:

Ancient Greek

Latin

Spanish

German

Japanese (grammar guide) (for dummies)

French

Russian (pretty good cyrillic guide!)

kill the shift manager in your brain

I’ve been reframing thoughts from “they could do it, but I can’t because I’m not good enough” to “they could do it and so can I because we’re both humans just trying our best”, or from “I can’t show up unless I’m perfect” to “I don’t have to be perfect, I just have to show up”, or from “the future is hopeless” to “there is hope even if I can’t see it”, or from “I will always feel this bad” to “everything is temporary”, or from “it is taking too much time to get better” to “it took time to get sick, it will take some time and patience to get better”.

But that reframing takes time too. It takes effort. It takes doing little things to make yourself feel better even when at first doing those things seems silly. Sometimes, you will fall off track, but you will get back up on your progress after resting as much as you need. Remember that this is about progression and not perfection. Remember it takes time, it takes a lot of trying, grieving, self-acceptance and self-forgiveness, but it is worth it, because little by little, you start to change, you start to get better. Don’t hold yourself to the highest of standards in your recovery, please keep in mind that you deserve to enjoy life, that you deserve to heal, that you deserve this progress, even if you’re not doing it perfectly, even if it seems slow, even if at first it feels hard to believe that you deserve good things. You don’t have to earn your healing by being perfect at it. Take your time. Rest if you must. But keep going, you’re doing great just by trying.

big fan of characters with abandonment + attachment issues so profound that they leave claw marks in everything they touch but would sooner gnaw off their own leg than admit they just want someone to stay for once. in a totally normal well adjusted and not at all projecting way of course.

Having a soft heart is not a shameful thing. Being earnest about what you love isn’t either. Sometimes it feels tiring to care when so many others in the world act like nothing moves them. But it doesn’t mean you should become uncaring only to seem stronger, because allowing yourself to be moved, to love, to be sensitive and soft is a brave thing, especially in a world that often seems so cruel. Remember to treat yourself with that same softeners, that same care. It’s not a shameful thing to be vulnerable, to be seen.