In March of this year, something began to happen to me. I had feelings of depression, but not my usual bouts of depression. This was different and very unfamiliar. I couldn’t focus on anything and I would have these crying spells two to three times a week. I thought I was having a nervous breakdown. I knew I could not go on like this and had to get help.
I was sharing how I was feeling with my girlfriend and she said my symptoms sounded like ADHD. I thought to myself, surely not. I’m in my fifties and I would have been diagnosed when I was a child. Well, I was wrong! After, seeing a psychiatrist and having neurological testing I was diagnosed with ADHD and put on non-stimulant medication, which was the best thing that could have happened.
I felt trapped in my own mind. I couldn’t think straight and I couldn’t focus on anything or function for that matter. I was a prisoner in my own mind and needed to be free.
Once I began to feel better and able to focus, and I mean really focus, I made the decision to go full-time with my art business, and let me tell you it was the best decision I ever made. It was such a freeing decision. Once I made the choice of going full-time and putting my all into it so many wonderful things started happening with my art and my business.
I found a wonderful art community of artists and collectors (Detroit Fine Arts Breakfast Club), I entered my first art call and my art pieces were chosen to be exhibited at the Crain’s Communication building in Detroit in November 2022.
Freedom means that I get to wake up every day and do what I love. This does not mean I don’t have hard days or struggles, but doing what I was meant to do and what I love makes it much easier to get through those times.
The painting that is featured above was started during the time I was going through neurological testing, and the adjustment of medication to find my “sweet spot”. It is titled “Manic Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday…” This is the piece that helped me break free.
