Doubt and desperation is a pretty common experience for an artist. No, no no. I definitely do not mean your outlook on life or art career. I mean that as artists, we can really embody an emotion to the point that it comes out unfiltered through our art, writing, and actions. For this reason, we must check in with ourselves to see how we are viewing things. We must make sure we aren't allowing others accomplishments or failures to determine our future. We must remember that we can only live one second at a time. It is easier to remember yesterday's failures than to predict tomorrow's successes.

I remember how the school mindset perverted our approach to a year. Summer meant don't work hard. Fall and late spring meant start caring less. Whereas, winter was in the middle of the school year, so work hard. I see my colleagues that have graduated immediately lose their art practice. Some whom acquired art jobs only use their artistic skills for work and not for play. This is heavily attached to the mindset they derived in school.

One way to overcome this drought of creation and desperation, is to pump out work non-stop. Never question if it is getting you closer to your goal or not. Create, learn, stumble. You need to keep processing different compositions and color mixes that you wouldn't have come across if you were in school. You need to design so often, the amount of keyboard shortcuts you know makes you bilingual. If you push yourself and your work towards success with every step, it becomes very hard to fall for the pull of doubt. The main source of desperation is fueled by money woes. If you can find a steady part time job that helps to surpress that common stressor, you can make it much farther in contemporary times.