Happiness Can Be Simple

Sometimes it’s as simple as yes. 

Sometimes it’s a stern no.

Sometimes it’s the acceptance of the fact that you know you’re wasting your time.

Sometimes it’s audibly saying I am unhappy here and planning to do something about it.

Sometimes it’s not picking up the phone.

Sometimes it’s a long drive to decompress.

Sometimes it’s a lot of self talk.

Sometimes it’s a couch with a side of ice cream and a good show.

Sometimes it’s allowing yourself to ugly cry it out or slap box the air.

Sometimes it’s mustering up the courage to say I am not ok.

Sometimes it is realizing that you are wrong and making amends.

Sometimes it’s allowing someone behind the walls you built up.

Sometimes it’s getting out of your own way.

Sometimes it’s learning to be quiet and choosing to listen.

Sometimes it’s admitting you deserve all the good coming your way.

Sometimes it’s not being surprised that you got what you earned.

Sometimes it’s stepping back and giving yourself breathing room.

Sometimes it’s asking the hard questions.

Sometimes it’s allowing yourself to have expectations and allowing for them to be met.

Sometimes it is trying again.

Sometimes our happiness isn’t complicated.

Sometimes….sometimes…it’s really simple.

Thank You!

So this past week I was afforded the opportunity to participate in Art Overdose. For those of you that don’t know, Art Overdose is an art and entertainment showcase put on by Crownholders Mgmt and Netwerk & Chill. It’s a cool lil gig filled with all the vibes and blackness you’d ever want from the underground Dallas art scene. I can assure you of this. Now while this isn’t my first showcase, it’s definitely one I’d say I was more prepared for. I had my prints printed out ahead of time and I had some of my merch in so I figured I was ready. At least...that’s how I felt. So I decided to do a lessons learned, a bigggg thank you, and a mind dump all in one to commemorate this moment. Here goes nothing!

Tip #1: Prepare for every display type. 

So boom,  it’s the day of the art show. The initial setup looks something like you getting in and claiming what will be your space for the night. You can create and use whatever support you need to make sure your work stays in place for all to see and the hope is that you won’t have to repeat the process. So my weapons of adhesion were commando strips, double sided tape, and tacks for backup. You’d think I was ready ready right? No.

I was ready ready for a wood surface or dry wall (think all the walls in your apartment). That night however, I had the pleasure of setting up my work on charming, yet really dusty brick. Now do you think commando strips, double sided tape or tacks work when it comes to a dusty brick wall? That would be a no. The entire time I was on hope and a prayer that my work wouldn’t fall or fly off the walls every 10 minutes. Although my work fell throughout the night I had the best tape fairies around Dallas so shout out to y’all. I refuse to be unprepared like that again though so this one’s definitely a lessons learned.

Tip #2: Business cards! Business Cards! BUSINESS CARDS!!

I cannot tell you how many people asked me for business cards that I did not have. I got by somewhat since us millennials are super active on social media. The generation right before us though...not so much. To make matters more interesting, my phone spazzed on me right before the show where I couldn’t operate it at all for the first hour. Thankfully, I have smart friends that can figure stuff out but still. If I ever had a doubt in my mind whether I should have them or not...doubt extinguished. 

Tip #3: Be in the room!

Here’s a confession; every time I pull up to these I feel I don’t belong there. The first hour is probably the toughest for me mentally and while I’m smiling...I am battling self induced impostor syndrome. There were about four times that night where I literally was ok with not standing by my work (hello...still battling) and just trying to encourage myself to be proud and to own it like Drake would say. The truth I always find by night’s end is that I do belong and there isn’t another artist that can serve it the way I do. My friends and family did a solid job making sure I didn’t forget that either.  

Which brings me to my final point…

I was not prepared for the support. Like...at all!

I can be pretty emotionally awkward at times so to have to deal with my emotions the entire time was a chore. I was everywhere that night. I was happy, scared, battling, excited, absent and present all throughout the day but you guys were there. I don’t think there was a single moment where I wasn’t greeted with a smiling face I rocked with. You all helped taped up my work up, advertised for me, bought tickets, bought merch, drove hours, texted ahead for conflicts, took pictures, hugged me, loved on me, helped me break down, and all of thee above. If I never sold a piece of art in the month of October...heck the whole year…it wouldn’t have mattered for what you guys gave me that night. That’s love. 

Anyways, this was a long one. I don’t apologize for it because you all deserve your accolades. 

Your ArtBae is grateful and still working.

KT

It Can Always Be Worse

So a few weeks ago I got the chance to go out of the country for the very first time. I went on a cruise to Cozumel, Mexico with my best friends and it was nothing short of amazing! I went parasailing and zip lining. I also got to sleep in a hammock, float in the ocean with some fish, and eat until my insides cried every single day (reasons why I need the gym still). Any who, one thing that became quite obvious from the jump were the amount of foreign workers aboard the shop. At first, I just thought nothing of it. I figured cool….this cruise line is really committed to helping out other countries, but for some reason my heart never settled with this explanation. That feeling was worsened when one of the crew got on the loudspeaker and announced that they were going to make the rest of the crew “dance” for us during one of our umpteenth dinners.

You know that meme of Drake where he’s court side at a game initially smiling and enjoying his life and then in the next moment he starts thinking about world hunger and how messed up the planet is? That meme? That was that moment for me. Now, I could have been over responsive, but that’s just how I felt.

And then they all danced in their costumes and all the positivity they could muster up after busting tables and who knows what else all day. I felt like I was viewing a showing where humans were just puppets on display and there went my trip. It didn’t help either that our awesome (he really was though) server explained to us how they live on the ship, don’t get to go home often at all, carry on endless servitude with tips waging less than $70 a month on top of their minimal salary I’m sure, and etc.

I didn’t mean to sadden you dreamers, I actually meant to wake you up! A lot of us complain, myself included, about things that others can’t even imagine being a problem at all. That cruise made me check my privilege. Yes, even my privilege as a young, African American woman in America. This is not to diminish our individual problems at all…it is just to get you to consider and know that there are people out there living in and through worse each and every day. There are people wishing they could be where you are right now. So what are you doing to live your life to the fullest for those that cannot? When’s the last time you stopped to consider how good your life is or how lucky you are to be in this time period with the current problems you have instead of another? My guess is that it’s been a while for some of us.

I want to encourage us to not only be grateful, but be inspired to better ourselves because there’s someone else that can’t on their own. Don’t settle for what you have, be great at whatever it is you’re doing because you’re not just doing it for you. Someone before you took steps so that your life could be better than what they had. Don’t waste their efforts. Pass them on.

Ki,

A humbled dreamer