💔 Self-kindness vs. Self-judgment.
While working on my drawing and illustrations, I felt my work sometimes as an artist was lacking a lot of things. I would be always judging and criticizing myself for various inadequacies or shortcomings. Seeing other artists work that I felt were better than mine made me feel discouraged from time to time. I recall one instance I spent months working on a piece and then destroyed it because I was not satisfied. I felt really stuck and overwhelmed.
However, sometimes there are days when I feel happy and love my work. I would always keep in mind that we tend to be our own worst critics. We as human beings forget to be kind to ourselves and see the amount of value on what we do. Sometimes we aren't aware of when we're most in need of self-compassion.
I still struggle to accept my own art since loving your work and yourself is not a process that happens overnight. We are not weak for feeling stuck, feeling not enough or because someone else is at a different stage of life. It is a reminder to heal, to grow and to honor the transition of moving forward towards “self-compassion". What we feel, good or bad, those experiences are helping us to move forward just like how we understand art is subjective, so our thoughts. Self-Kindness is our superpower.
All illustrations have been created by Jasmin!
About the Author
Jasmin
What’s up! This is my first year joining as a Healthy U Volunteer because of my interest in connecting the community through art and public health. I believe that oral, written and visual forms of art are tools where the community can use to tell their stories, to bond and heal.
My hobbies include going out for walks, listening to spoken word poetry and digital art! Looking forward to work with you all!