"My work becomes my cure"

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My time in Vermont has inspired me so, as it always does, but this time it's been more life-changing than ever. I've learned to trust the process, to know that "messing up" doesn't mean I have to start from the beginning but to just continue. There is only one beginning, and everything after that is part of the process, and this is something that we can all apply not only to our work but to our lives.

I am also so inspired by Keith Smith's essay "A Book of the Book," in which he writes (my emphasis):

...Rather than waste more time, I recognize I am at a dead end. I start to work on another book, leaving this one on hold for a day, a week, or maybe five years until I know how to proceed.

This is how I work. I always have one to two dozen books in progress. When insight comes, I work on the appropriate book for as long as I am progressing. If my mind is scattered, I cut book boards, buy supplies and do the little things which do not require much critical thought. When I find I am depressed, rather than allow my mood shifts to immobilize me, I channel those feelings into an appropriate book. My work becomes my cure. When I was a student, Sonia Sheridan gave invaluable advice, "Put your work into everything, and everything into your work." The artist does not sit until inspired to make a masterpiece, and art does not have to be monumental.

I really like that part about work becoming the cure. Even if it ends up being a dead end, a non-masterpiece, it's still a part of the process, and art is an excellent cure for so, so much.

My work has become my cure--such hope this gives me.