The Journey

Hi all, it's Thursday and I thought I'd reserve Thursdays for a discussion of the way artists become artists.

I have met some artists that appear to be born to it somehow. They know from a really young age that they are musicians or writers or dancers and it is really common to hear them say that they just always had a natural talent for their chosen profession.

A musician I know said he knew at four or five that he wanted to be a musician and he just never looked back. A lot of people envy artists like that. To know from such a young age where they are going and what they want to do must be a great relief.

Other people find out later in life that they were meant to do something. Sometimes they call it an 'accident' or a 'coincidence' that they've become a writer, for example. I don't believe in coincidences, however.

I think people may have a talent and just not realize it and in the universe's infinite wisdom they end up where they were meant to be anyway, even if the route was circuitous.

I have always felt that art, no matter what form, was something that just had to come out of an individual. I know I feel an intense need to write. It is out of my control really and I feel very unbalanced and edgy if I can't write when I need to.

I have learned to set aside time every day to write. This takes the edge off and I know that by doing so I am looking after those words that must be expressed.

It isn't easy to find people that really listen to you and care about who you are. I think a lot of art helps people express what they may not have an outlet to express any other way.

The point is to be yourself even when no one is listening.

Art, in whatever form, lets you do this.

It's powerful, magical and very, very real.

Bravo to all you artists out there and good luck with your journey!