dream crushers: talk to the hand, the face is busy

my story is one of the many stories of people who, as young aspiring artists, had their artistic dreams stomped on by teachers and parents. well-meaning, most of them, and more don’t realize that their criticisms crush the artist’s dreams, ergo, they are the dream crushers.

i often wonder how many artists have quit and closed the door on their dreams, never to return. at the same time, i wonder how many started again later on in their life. i found my way back to this dream not so long ago, in a futile attempt to fill the empty spaces on my walls (literal and figurative). little had i known then, that dreams, when held close in the heart, never really die, they just snooze, waiting to be stirred up, again.

i remember getting caught sketching a horse in the third grade during a class other than art — if memory serves me, it was probably math (a.k.a., my second art class). and worse is that i was doing it for a classmate! a note went home with me from school that day. my parents weren’t at all happy with that report. i remember asking my ma though, if ms. gadon, my teacher, commented about my horse. i also cared about the math, but i wanted to know more if my teacher liked the sketch as much as i hoped she did.

let’s just say, the answer i received was not the desired response. bwahahaha!

over the next few weeks, years, over time. . .i was treated to never-ending lectures and opinions of how wanting to become an artist was not a good choice for my life. i heard it all: i was told if i pursued that dream, that i would wind up living in the slums, or if i got a job, it would be menial. i was told i would be a homeless bum, and that no one would ever want to marry me. well, i think the last one was ominous! worked right to the tee, inspite. bwahahaha!

so did i give up or quit right then and there? no, i couldn’t. creating is in my blood, it is what i am meant to do. i did let things calm down for awhile though. . . and i made sure to pay more attention in math class!

now, years later, i have to tell you: i’ve dealt with a lot of people who still have the same perception of artists that was prevalent back when i was just a girl. and to think, times have brought some upstanding status to the arts!

and today i want to say that the many of us who had their dreams crushed when we were younger, please know that it’s not too late to begin following your dreams again.

i don’t let negative comments bring me down. there are a lot of cynical people in this world who have a very negative view of anything that is different from what they do. some of them are people who gave up on their own dreams long ago, and deep down, they resent my enthusiasm, my aspirations, and my persistence in following my dream, simply because they gave up on theirs. beh! bwahahaha!

some will even delight in planting seeds of doubt within me and tearing me down. i simply don’t let them!

these are the dream crushers. . . but they have no control over me. i can still get back up, get on with my dream, and get creating!

and that is exactly what i am doing!