This week’s blog is something that I feel really passionate about! I can’t believe I haven’t written about it before because I talk about it all of the time. Anyway, this blog is all about taking risks and pushing comfort zones. I’ve been thinking about this a lot as I’ve been growing up and going through different stages of my life. Wanting to take risks is something that is applicable to so many areas of our lives and especially in art and design.

This week we assembled our hand-made Shakespeare posters (from the thumbnails I shared last week). I chose to do a design with string and 3 dimensional aspects, something I’ve never tried before. I could see it in my mind and I knew I wanted to take the risk and try it out. I worked on it all weekend (there was string and hot-glue everywhere) and at the moment I don’t know if I like how it turned out (there’s still more to do though!). Even if I decide that I hate it and redo the whole project (which would be crazy but I’m kind of crazy) I am still happy that I went for it! This has reminded me about how much I value taking creative risks.

Now this is easier said than done! Being creative is exhausting (this is what I tell people that don’t understand what being an art major is like). But, it’s true! It’s hard to have creative ideas that: work, and push boundaries, but stay in boundaries, and meet criteria, but aren’t cliché. We continually push ourselves to grow not only academically but creatively as well. The best way to grow is to jump! This is figurative of course, but for me also literal……

You see for about 7 years now I have been a competitive springboard diver (usually I dive for Marywood but I took a break this season because of going to study abroad to London last semester…I’m balancing here!). The only way to grow as a diver is to trust yourself and jump….and flip and twist and try to land too. Trying new dives was always hard for me, I always pictured myself belly-flopping instead of landing the, say, back one and a half-half twist (I stuck that in to sound fancy). Even though it was hard and even when I belly-flopped, actually going for a new dive and taking that risk was such a rewarding feeling. This feeling is something that I bring with me to many areas of my life.

That rewarding feeling was one that I had when I chose to go to Marywood, when I moved in freshman year, and when I decided I was going to go abroad. It is a feeling I get from little accomplishments too like when I choose to get homework done instead of watching tv. It’s also the feeling that I get when I finish an art project that I know I pushed myself creatively. This is something that I have to remember as I am a junior now; things like internships and competitions scare me right now just like a new dive would. I need to remember that rewarding feeling and trust myself to jump into the next stage of my education and my life.