Life Archives - Page 7 of 23

Different Jobs (Dreamward Bound)

by tiffanyDreamward bound, Life May 7, 2019March 24, 2020No Comments

Through out my life I have worked for 10 very different companies and had 11 different jobs. In college I also had a bunch of different career oriented experiences, primarily in the theater.

Notice that each of the companies had jobs, not careers. I could have turned any of those jobs into careers if I wanted to. However, besides working in my college scene shop and at a theater after college I knew they would be just jobs. I would not build a career around cleaning kennels or canvasing for a non-profit campaign.

Each of the very different jobs helped my journey. I learned lessons in each role I performed. The lessons ranged from learning what a toxic environment looks like to how I could truly motivate and support people.

Each job and role brought me down my life’s path and gave me experiences I can use in my art.

For years I thought I was starting my journey too late. I was behind in life and failing at being on my path. I was looking at my life and saying it wasn’t enough. In my mind I was stationary and stuck.

I now see I was always on my path; moving along in my life. I’m not behind in anything, because there are no markers for my life. I cannot compare my journey to anyone else’s or even my imaginary milestones, because that has nothing to do with my life or journey.

If I had different life experience my art would be different; my life would be different. I would be different.

If we all were on the same path expressing your heart and soul through art would be pointless. It would all be the same and devalue art itself. Even if only artist had the same path and learned the same things at the same time art would then loose something important.

It is because we are all on our own individual journeys that sharing our stories is important. We are telling people they are not alone in creative ways. Artists also show their audiences that it is okay to be different. You can still connect with people even if you’re odd.

All that to say, I now know the value of my struggle to claim my art and life. I now know the pleasure of readying myself to be a full time professional artist, because I’ve known all the other types of jobs I could fall into.

I’m ready for my creative career and that is a leap dreamward bound.

Introduction to Healthy Bagel

by tiffanyHealthy Bagel April 25, 2019March 24, 2020No Comments

My story is not uncommon when it comes to weight loss and healthy living. Like most I’ve tried a few different methods to weighing less.

I know the basic knowledge of all healthy diets and weight loss programs.

The less processed a food is the better
Eat less calories than you burn, but you need nutrients and a certain amount of calories to not go into starvation made.
Exercise is important, so you should be active.

I know these things, but it takes something else to actually make that knowledge count for something. It takes self-disciple, will power, and commitment.

Healthy living is a life-style change that I am making. Unlike other times I’m doing something different. I’m committing to working on all of me, not just my physical self.

My idea is that as I work towards my physical health I will also look at my emotional and mental health. This will help me create a true life-style change and not just a temporary diet/ exercise adjustment.

I will start by posting a “Healthy Bagel” post once a month and then increase as I have time and need. Most of the posts will focus on my physical health journey, but I will also add in thoughts about my mental health, since your body and mind are intricately intertwined.

Before I leave you I should note that I have already made progress on my journey. It started a couple years ago, but I am just now truly moving down this path to my healthiest self and joining in both inner and outer health together. It was like I stepped on the path to health 2 years ago and studied it, but only took a couple steps. Now I am steadying walking down it.

Blog on Vlogs

by tiffanyLife, my creative self, other updates April 2, 2019March 24, 2020No Comments

In November 2018 I started to do weekly vlogs. They are short unedited videos of how my week went, lessons I’m learning, or random ramblings. They are not planned out and are not high quality, but they are fun to do and hopefully helpful.

I started them, because I wanted to have a presence on youtube. I also wanted to get into the habit of publishing weekly videos.

One aspect of my dream/ ideal life is to be comfortable in front of the camera and to do promotional videos for my projects.

I had 2 options to make this aspect of my ideal life a reality.

The first was to wait until I had time to plan and edit videos. Time that may never come.

The second option was to make time and start where I was. I can start with what I can do now and grow on that.

One thing I’ve learned by going down the second path is that I have to fight with myself. Some weeks the video isn’t perfect. I’ve looked at the thumbnails and I’ve noticed the lighting isn’t great. Most weeks I also don’t like an aspect of my appearance or how I sound.

If I was doing this for the views or an outside factor I would have stopped after the first few videos.

The wonderful thing is that I’m not doing this for the views. This is something I’m doing for myself. It is practice and habit forming.

I have noticed that I’m frequently giving advice and sharing the life lessons I’m learning. It is turning into a verbal version of DreamWard Bound. I am okay with that and enjoying sharing what I’m learning. (I have found a passion for advice giving).

Here are a couple more videos for you to get an idea of what I’m talking about. I hope you enjoy.

My Journey With RedBubble So Far

by tiffanyLife, my creative self, other updates, Visual art March 2, 2019March 24, 2020No Comments

In November 2017 I joined RedBubble. I started slow by only adding acrylic paintings that I already had good quality pictures of.

Blue Swirl Logo

In 2018, when I had my Surface Pro tablet I started to play around with digital art and posted fun pieces. The digital art really opened up my creativity, since I didn’t need to worry about clean up or materials that much.

The first 2 digital art characters I posted was the first version of my Hot-tea art piece and my happy mug character.

Happy Mug for My Journey With RedBubble So Far

Hot Tea image for My Journey With RedBubble So Far

I also started to do art pieces focused on lettering, which combined my love for words with my love for visual art. My two favorites are my Bible Nerd piece and my Thespian piece.

Thespian aka theater nerd for My Journey With RedBubble So Far

You will be hearing more and more about my journey with RedBubble as I do plan to be promoting my portfolio and the products you can get my art printed on. I love the idea that you can wear my art or have it on a mug. There are also other products, like clocks and framed art prints.

Also, once To Love is published I will be adding a select number of illustrations from the book to be on RedBubble.

2018 Visual Art Pieces

by tiffanyLife, my creative self, other updates, Visual art February 2, 2019March 24, 2020No Comments

In 2018 I started to experiment with digital art and lettering.

Some digital art was abstract and simply me experimenting with this new media.

Multi brush and multi color 2018 Visual Art Pieces

abstract flower for 2018 Visual Art Pieces

Other art pieces were fun cartoon characters that I created in order to sell prints on Redbubble.

Most of the lettering art work I’ve done this pass year was also for Redbubble prints.

Early in 2018 I also started working on the visual art for my upcoming book To Love.

Although I did not finish a single acrylic painting in 2018 I did work on a few and in general, it was a good year in my visual art life. This coming year is looking good for my creative life, also.

Stay tuned for more art pieces. They are coming.

Where Am I? – DreamWard Bound

by tiffanyDreamward bound, Life January 9, 2019March 24, 2020No Comments

dreamward bound logo for where am I

I started this DreamWard Bound series almost 5 years ago. A lot has changed with the series and in my life, since then. My creative life has bounced from the foreground of my focus to the back burner and back up front.

What I focus on in my creative life has bounced around, also. Even my artistic purpose has morphed into something new.

My creative focus has changed, because the close I get to my ideal life the more I learn about myself and my true passions. I’m still not living my ideal life, but I am learning more about it.

In learning about my true passions I have added and changed my artistic theme and purpose. My theme now is ‘joyfully fun creations.’ I’m trying to keep most of my art joyful and/or fun. Sometimes I will still step away from my theme. This is mostly seen with poetry and other writings.

Having a theme to focus on has helped with my art and creating a solid body of work that has the same light, joyful feeling and style to it.

This theme/ style has carried into my memoir that I almost have completed. The book has been taking up a lot of my creative energy for the past few years, which is why this blog has been so sporadic. I have high hopes for it in both publishing success and keeping my new artist theme. I worked long and hard on it, so hopefully it is good. It’ll be very me at least.

I have also started to do more digital art work and post them for sale on Redbubble. I’m having fun creating lettering art and silly characters to share. I will be giving Redbubble at least 1 post of its own, if not more, in the near future.

I am also planning on writing more blogs and making sure this site is up to date on all my creative happenings, so stay tuned.

Chapters of Life – DreamWard Bound

by tiffanyDreamward bound, Life, Non-fiction and Articles Portfolio June 8, 2018August 28, 2019No Comments

Every few years my life changes. Each change is the start of a new chapter and a new part of my epic story. Most of the time it also comes with a change in location, but not always.

I try to prepare for each change in my life the best I can. I look at it like almost like a new story. What will the plot be? What new characters may I encounter? What will the theme or message be for this chapter of my life? Each time my life changes I think I answer these questions, but God or life always has at least one different answer. The changes are never fully what I expected.

This chapter in my life is like the others. It is not what I expected.

My goal for this chapter is to pursue my ideal life, my passions, and God’s will for my life.

At the moment I am being torn down in negative areas of my personality, struggling with my motivation, and I’m learning to be more flexible in multiple areas of my life. It is a trying point in my life. I do not want to face the areas of myself that I don’t like and should change. It is not easy to let things go that annoy me or frustrate me.

I do know that the reward for going through all this will be worth it. I will hopefully rid myself of the parts of me I do not like and become more flexible with things that don’t actually matter in the long run of things. I’ll be a better version of myself and living a better version of my life.

Also, although it is tough I am still less stressed and not emotionally drained each night. It is a better life for myself already.

Plus, I can actually have a full day to rest, which is a new thing and one I’m still relearning how to do. It is strange that stopping and relaxing is hard for someone. It seems like it should be easy to do, but I’ve spent years only really stopping on vacations. If I was not on vacation I had something to do; I had something to create or a to-do list item to check off. Now I have a day for that stuff and a day to stop and take care of myself. I still want to keep going and going, but I know we all have to take a break now and again, so that is what I’m doing. I will learn how to do it well eventually.

Not A Normal High-school (Journey To Me)

by tiffanyJourney To Me, Life, Real Life April 24, 2018April 24, 2020No Comments

When I was a kid I wanted to become a vet. I loved animals and wanted to be their doctor. My grandpa was a vet and I grew up across the street from my uncles’ pig farm. Plus, my family always had a bunch of animals. I was surrounded by animals and loved it.

I was so sure I wanted to be a vet that I went to an agricultural high-school that had majors. For half the day we would take normal classes like English, Math, and History. The other half of the day would be spent in our majors. Freshmen had to take classes in every major, but at the end of the year, you picked your top three majors. I knew at the start of going to that school, like most, what major I wanted. I wanted to be a small animal science major. My second choice was large animal science, and I’m not sure what I put as my third choice. I did get into my first-choice major and was thrilled.

Having A Major in High School

Each year the major had a combination of a standard book or class learning and hands-on learning. I don’t remember exactly what we learned during the lecture-style classes, but I do remember the hands-on learning.

Sophomore year we learned about small animal husbandry and how to care for the different animals. We had bunnies, guinea pigs, hamsters, rats, a reptile room, and birds.

Junior year we learned about grooming and I believe aquariums. One year we had to fill an aquarium and make sure we didn’t overpopulate it along with keeping the PH balanced.

Senior year we learned vet tech. Towards the end of the semester, we even assisted in a few spays and neuters.

During my senior year, I also participated in a work-release program, where I went to a zoo and helped the zookeepers. After my normal classes were done for the day I would drive to the zoo and take care of the different animal exhibits. It was such a great experience.

Deciding My Future

When I was applying to colleges though I questioned if becoming a vet was something I really wanted to do. I did look at and apply to some schools that had animal science degrees. I also looked at and applied to schools with a theater degree. When the time came to decide I went to college for theater.

From time to time I wonder what my life would be like if I chose the other path. Would I have been happy as a vet? How would I have changed if I made that choice?

It is an intriguing thought exercise, but only a thought exercise. If I went down that other career path I would not be who I am. I would not have the friends that have shaped me or the adventures we’ve been on.

I am glad my high-school experience was the one I had, but I am also glad I chose to have a creative life. That is what a truly blessed life is, being glad for the experiences of your past and where you are now.

Want More?

I have more stories that show how I became who I am. They are in the Journey to Me series. I also have stories specifically about God and of course, I wrote a book about my views and experiences with Love called To Love.

My Writing Life (Journey To Me)

by tiffanyJourney To Me, Life, Real Life April 17, 2018April 24, 2020No Comments

I usually start the story of my creative life with dance class and then go into my experiences with musical theater. It’s easy for me to gloss over my early writing experience.

There are three reasons I do this. The first reason is that although my grammar and spelling were not great creative writing came naturally to me. I don’t remember any lessons about how to write poetry or short stories in elementary school or early middle school. However, I do remember writing a story when I was 10 about a 10-year-old girl.

The second reason for never focusing on my early writing life is because I never felt it was important. It was always just something I did. I hardly ever shared my stories with people. Since I didn’t share my writing I never celebrated that part of my creativity. The theater was what I celebrated and did so publicly. The writing I did was a private thing.

The third reason is my confidence in my writing was low. Sure I wrote creative things constantly, but I was never amazing in English or spelling classes. I was an average student when it came to writing assignments. Grammar and spelling are not my strong suit. I still struggle with spelling certain words, and will reread sentences to make sure they are correct. Why would I talk or share something I wasn’t good at?

The thing is whether I’m good at it or not writing is a big important part of me. It is like talking to me; I may mispronounce words or not be as eloquent as others in my speech, but it is how I communicate. It is on aspect that makes me who I am.

There is increasingly more comfortable with that aspect of me. I am a writer and will describe myself as such.

I have come along way in my writing life and now I love sharing my writing. It may not be the best, but my writing is truthfully me. I would not have it any other way.

Want More?

II have more stories that show how I became who I am. They are in the Journey to Me series. I also have stories specifically about God and of course, I wrote a book about my views and experiences with Love called To Love.

Leap Towards My Dreams – DreamWard Bound

by tiffanyDreamward bound, Life April 13, 2018April 24, 2020No Comments

It is April; only the fourth month of this year, and already it has been a life changing year for me.

At the end of 2017 I decided that I would make a major change to my life. I needed to share up my life in order to truly pursue my dreams.

The decision I made was to leave my full time job in order to work towards my ideal life. I never meant to stay there as long as I had, but it was safe and seemed comfortable. However, my unneeded stress was growing and the enjoyment of the actual work was shrinking. I realized it had become just a paycheck and if I was to work for just a paycheck there are less stressful jobs closer to where I live.

In fact, before I even left the full-time job I started a new part-time job with my church. I am now my church’s admin. That job started in January of this year and I left my full-time job at the end of February.

At the end of February, the Tuesday after my last day, I went on a 2-week mission trip to South Africa. I got back mid-March and had to adjust to this new amazing chapter in my life.

I am excited to see what new adventure lay in front of me and what opportunities await me. Whatever my future holds it will be worth the leap because for the first time in a very long time I feel like I’ve taken a significant step towards my ideal life.

I am truly dreamward bound.

Want More?

In 2019 I retired my DreamWard Bound Series. As of 2020, I have a few other series and a Youtube channel. I also have published my book To Love, which is for sale on Amazon.