Week-End Magic

artist life, blog, dreams, happiness, personal life -

Week-End Magic

... "I hope you are having a great weekend. Like a lot of you we are facing a stay-at-home order so I'm trying to make the best of it with lots of cleaning, painting, cooking and enjoying the garden from behind windows because living in suburbia sucks. The third picture are latest experiments with different inks and mediums on paper and wood. They are still experimental but I'm excited to see the effects in getting!" ...

Now this is what I posted on Instagram a little while ago and I soon received a message telling me that I have a beautiful home and I'm so lucky to be an artist so I shouldn't be complaining about my life ( I imagine they are talking about the part where I said that living in suburbia sucks). I get remarks like these a lot from friends, family and strangers here (although interestingly I do not get that remark from Europeans). I think there is a misunderstanding about being grateful for what you have and being unhappy. When we bought this house 16 years ago we had to remodel it for months as we were doing everything ourselves with the help of a friend and we only took care of the inside. There was nothing in the garden and I did most of it and I loved it. It was a great peaceful neighborhood with a park just across our small neighborhood street. 

Now however It has changed into a neighborhood where every minute is filled with noise from power tools, leaf blowers and mowers, pool water filters, racing cars in a nearby streets, random fireworks all through the year, sirens and police helicopters (no we do not live in a bad neighborhood at all it's like that all over Sacramento). And the park has been paved over for building a school complex filling the air with more noise, fumes, wall shaking tremors, an insane amount of dust and migrating rats (yes more rats than you thought possible were dispersed in the neighborhood when they destroyed the park). Enjoying your yard in peace has become impossible. 

So no I don't feel bad complaining because it took an insane amount of work to get the house and garden the way I wanted and just when it was coming together the enjoyment of it got all taken away. So am I grateful to have a roof over my head? Absolutely. Am I happy to be living here? No. 

But you know what? It is unhappiness in your circumstances that propels you in life. It is the reason you want change and growth and it makes you stretch your wings. So don't let anybody tell you that you have no right to be unhappy. Life being difficult right now could become your greatest chance at pursuing your true dream.


2 comments

  • Marie-laure Delage-carlson

    I think people are afraid of others feelings so I guess your are supposed to remain even tempered and not express anything that might make someone uncomfortable. You can’t be too joyous either… that would just be weird !

  • Elisabeth Kauffman

    Ugh, why do people feel so entitled to tell you how you “should” feel? That is so stupid. It never makes you feel better, it only makes that person feel “better” …
    And I totally get your feelings on where you live… it’s what moved us away. Easier for us because we hadn’t lived there as long.

Leave a comment