08 May 2015

Taking the plunge

Following my passion is something I have been dreaming of for so long, but the thought of chasing it scares me. For a while now I've been thinking about whether I could make a career out of creating drawings and illustrations.

Ever since I was young I have loved to draw, but I never thought I would be able to do it as a career and make money from it.

I am a little critical of my work. I never think its that good. At playgroup the other day I showed some Mums a photo I posted on Instagram of some shells I had drawn. One Mum didn't realise it was a drawing at first.


If I think back to when I was 14, I wanted to be an artist. When I left high school I studied a Fine Arts course at college in the hope to become an artist. But as I didn't have much encouragement from my parents (my Mum tried bless her) I also took on a Office Studies course at the same time, which I could 'fall back on'.

After college, I worked in various secretarial roles moving my way up from Junior clerk to an Executive PA over 9 years. It was in my last role that I realised I still enjoyed being creative, so decided to leave for a career change.

For the next 9 years I worked in roles where I provided desktop publishing and graphic design work (although I never had formal training in graphic design), web content management and development, technical writing including producing PowerPoint presentations. While I was getting something creative out of these jobs, it wasn't what made me truly happy.

While raising our girls I have been on a "career hiatus", now that Popette is in Year 1 and Cherub is at Preschool two days a week I'm thinking of returning to the workforce. After six and a half years of being home with my two sweet girls I don't want to just return to 'any job'. I want it to be 'the job'. I want it to be a job that makes me happy. I'd hate it if I was sitting at a desk being miserable all day and wishing I was at home with Cherub.

So now I need to decide whether to take the plunge and see if I can make some money out of my art. If I don't do it I know I will always wonder if I could have made a go at it.

Have you ever taken the plunge into the unknown? How did it work out for you?

8 comments:

  1. You're very talented. I say 'go for it.' :) Dive in!

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  2. I am mid plunge and admit it is terrifying. I wish you well and love that you are exploring this hon xxx good luck

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  3. You should TOTALLy take the plunge lovely girl as you have some incredible talent and it would be such a shame to one day be left wondering if you could have lived your dream I say do it - leap and the net will appear xx

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  4. Go for it, Julie!! Some people don't even know what their passion is let alone have the opportunity to follow it! So, do it x

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