What do you want your future look like?

My bedroom window, the first thing I see in the morning.

Lately, I have been giving a lot of thought to what I want my new version of normal life to look like. I'm sure many of you have been thinking about this too. Although I will need to return to my job for at least a while, I do not want to stay there long-term. Not that I don't like it, I do. But it isn't what I want to do with my life.

This crisis has given me time and space to think about what I really want. That is to be an artist, a full-time, financially stable artist. I have enjoyed taking time every day to create: to draw, collage, weave, write, to think. Working at home on art all day feels right to me, it is comfortable in a way nothing else has been. I feel focused and at peace. I can also see the progress I have made in a few short weeks.

My art studio is almost finished. The last section of floor will be ready for furniture on Thursday. My drafting table arrives on Friday. I hope to have everything organized and in a useful state by Monday. That gives me at least a week to work in there seriously before I have to go back to work. The weaving studio has been up and running, although it still needs some organizing. Moving some of the fine art stuff out of the weaving studio will help. At this point, I have been researching domain names and site hosting options. This summer I will take my last class, website design. My capstone project will be done in the fall semester, then school will be over for the time being. Time to take the plunge!

I do realize I need to do this in stages. I cannot afford right now to just quit my job. But I can start my art business in a real way and scale back my work-for-wages as I am able to. I can build my email list and work on a good website, build a solid body of work and start marketing in earnest. Starting Monday, that's my plan. Starting Monday, I will consider myself to be a working artist who sometimes works for wages, instead of a full-time worker who sometimes makes art.

What have you discovered about yourself during this "downtime"? How do you want to live? What have you been able to do lately that you are not willing to give up? What will your new normal look like?