Learning to live—and thrive—after a late in life on-the-spectrum diagnosis. Spoiler alert: It's been surprisingly awesome and has made me a better artist. For me, the year 2023 shall never be spoken of again. It was a real bleep-show.
It started off with my better half being rushed to the hospital and having to spend what seemed like a week under observation in the heart wing. It was really only 24 hours and it was a severe anxiety attack, but still. The stress from that experience threw my system and body out of whack, and I ended up losing the next nine months to sciatica. I do not wish that on anyone. Well, maybe some people. Steroids, weight gain from steroids, muscle relaxers—it was all just so much to process, and I'm still processing everything and trying to move forward in a healthy way. But the year did end up bringing me some relief in one particular area.
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The true story of how one woman finally found love and got her fairy tale ending. Author's note: the names in the story below have been changed but the details are all true. Growing up as a young girl in America in the ‘70s, it would have been odd if my “ideal” outcome for life didn’t follow the fairy tale storyline: female spends formative years—possibly as an ugly duckling—struggling to see her inner worth, meets a handsome man who “gives” her said worth, and then spends the rest of her life with cartoon birds landing on her shoulder while unicorns and bunnies romp through flower-filled fields.
But, you know, life isn’t a fairy tale, and there isn’t a guaranteed happily ever after. However, it’s possible to achieve one—as long as you remain open to what that ending actually looks like. This past Tuesday, Redbubble, the print-on-demand site used by millions of small, independent artists across the globe (including yours truly), announced a new fee-based, tiered structure for its platform's members, sending the art community into a furious tailspin. I took a few minutes to craft a letter to the company to let them know how I felt about the changes, which take effect on May 1.
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