(Me at age 5, being a very special ‘snow tiger’ for Halloween. I lived in North Dakota so there was always snow for Halloween.)
Hi everyone! Megan here, Jess’s assistant. Jess is on her amazing vacation still but she wanted to make sure I made you smile today with a little post. I hope you enjoy it!!
My mother constantly tells me I’m ‘special’. And she means it. Not in the way you’re probably thinking but in the ‘only you would have that happen to you’ way. As in, “Megan, you’re special because only you would knock your open purse into the automatic sink and then have to walk out of the bathroom with a purse aquarium.” Or, “Megan, you’re special because only you could manage to cut yourself with safety scissors.”
While being ‘special’ has its downsides, I think it’s important for all of us to embrace our specialness. What would our modern comedy be like if Lucille Ball hadn’t shown off her humor on I Love Lucy? What would the art world be like if Duchamp hadn’t turned a toilet seat into a museum piece? What would the world be like if you didn’t do the thing that made you special?
My younger brother is in his first serious relationship and I’ve begun to notice some big changes in him. Suddenly he watches football (really?!) and hates his old-favorite color brown. Instead of acting 10 years older than he is, he’s now acting like a pre-teen. And it’s all because of his new girlfriend. In order to make her like him more, he’s been changing his likes, habits, and decisions to better fit her likes, habits, and decisions. I know that one day he’ll realize how silly this is (hopefully before he needs years of therapy to rediscover his true self) but I’m learning a lot from this and I hope you can too.
Changing or hiding your specialness to make your customers like you helps no one! What the world needs most is your talent, your smile, and your perspective. It doesn’t matter if what you like is unusual. It doesn’t matter if no one else is ‘special’ like you. That’s why you’re you! So own it, girl, because if you don’t, no one else will either.
I’ve embraced my specialness with my business and now I’m drawing the images that I want to draw! And you know what, those are the ones that people love the best! So never be scared to show off your specialness. Your true fans will love you all the more for it.
Thanks Megan! Yep, sometimes it’s hard when you’re fighting for acceptance, when the people around you are telling you “Hey, you can draw/make groovy stuff/sing well/whatever, but what are you going to do for a REAL job?”, to actually be true to yourself. It’s taken me a long time to get here, but it is SOOO worth it!
I know exactly what you mean! Thankfully my boyfriend is an artist as well and my parents completely support me so I don’t get that question often. It’s sometimes hard though when your extended family members all have ‘normal jobs’. I’ve just had to accept that I’m the unusual one in the bunch. Haha.
Love this post, Megan, thanks for the reminder! Sometimes it’s so easy to get swept up in trying to accomodate yourself to fit others’ lives, that we forget who we really are and what we want. And to be honest, I love being the odd one out amongst my group of family and friends =D Cheers!