Like Nike said, Just Do It

So lately I've been thinking about what I want to *do* in my life. You know, that thing that you introduce yourself as when meeting people, answering the question, "So what do you do?" And I've come to understand that the thing we should all be answering with is the thing that brings us the great joy in our life, our passion, whether or not it's the thing that bring us the most money.

Like for me, I've put it on my profile that I'm "sometimes disguised as a substitute teacher" but sometimes, most times, that's all I ever talk about with people. I never talk about the thing that makes my heart swell, and it's always the thing that I relegate to the back burner in times of stress. I still feel guilty about liking it, like it's just kids' stuff, I'm only playing around, goofing off when I do it...

But isn't that what makes us all smile the widest, goofing off? Isn't that when we all should feel our best, when we're having fun?

And I think zenhabits may have written about this before, which would have planted the seed for me to start changing my thinking, but this morning I got this:

Diana, I love this job! You know, writing you every day.

Do you know how I got it?

No, besides being the Universe and getting whatever I want.

Yes! I just started doing it.

And that's all anything takes.

The Universe

P.S. Of course it'll feel funny at first, Diana, might even look funny, but how badly do you want what you want?

And it hit me. Just start doing it. Perhaps if your passionate, joy-bringing thing is something like flying a plane, you can't *just do it* but creating art... calling myself an artist, and actually *DOING* that, instead of wallowing in guilt and self-doubt, putting it off when I'm stressed about money... I *can* just do it!

So, I am going to back to making something every day, because to me, that's what an artist does, even if it's just a few quick sketches...