When it comes to facing your fears, it can be tough to let people see you as vulnerable and in a rough state, like this old sketch.
When I originally posted this, I thought I’d take one of my roughs out of my sketchbook. Is it facing my fears of showing my rough lines in all its glory? Perhaps. I did a lot of sketching then but didn’t have much time to create polished artwork unless I could invoice it.
Standardized tests can be scary for students. I remember getting nervous if there was any test that I knew was important. And I saw how my kids had to endure them. So that inspired this standardized tests cartoon.
There are pros and cons to using them. And let’s face it: no one likes standardized tests! But for adults, none of our tests are standard.
One of my fond memories of my mom is when she would sing, Getting to Know You, from The King and I. As an introvert, it gave me a sense of the positive possibilities when I am friendly and reach out to people. It’s one way to learn to love our neighbors as The Good Book directs us to.
However, it’s easier said than done, isn’t it? We’ve been taught to be reserved, keep to ourselves, and even be a little suspicious of our neighbors. That tension inspired me to write and draw this cartoon.
No one really knows the future. We can make assumptions based on past experience and current data, but it’s still a guessing game. And if all the predictions are based on fear, worry is wasted creativity.
Anxiety can limit our creativity. Whether our surroundings make us anxious, or we put too much pressure on ourselves to be creative, fear and anxiety can stymie us. It wastes our imagination when we think about all the bad things that have happened, are happening now, and could happen.
The energy we put into fretting only serves to encourage those circumstances. I have found the old adage, what we think about, we bring about, to be way too prophetic.
What parent hasn’t had to deal with a to-do list a mile long? My wife has always been a go-getter. Undoubtedly, she inspired this mom’s to do list cartoon
As amazing as it may seem, there is a cure for the super busy parent. It takes intentionality and discipline. But it is possible. The big challenge is learning to say no when the world seems to be asking us for the moon… and then some!