holding hands in the dark

it is not wrong to want to live off your art

Last Monday night I saw a truly incredible performance by Japanese musician Ichiko Aoba.

Not only was it one of the best performances musically I’ve ever seen (I already wrote about it here) I also feel it gifted me a powerful transmission around business, creativity and art.

Ichiko Alba is 35 years old and this was her 15th anniversary tour.

She has been doing this for a long time.

She is by no means a superstar. She’s by no means in the mainstream. However: she is a highly successful artist who can sell out shows, travel the world and support herself through her art.

Her passion for music and storytelling, for poetry and beauty is obvious. Not only in her performance but also in her self-expression. Her clothes, her merchandise, her self published zines, her stories between songs.

She’s weird. She’s quiet. She’s gentle. She seems to be, unapologetically, but softly, herself.

She’s doing what she is here to do on the earth.

To me, this is success.

This is something I look up to more than anything else.

ೀ ㅤ۫ ㅤ۪ㅤ۫ ㅤ ♡ ㅤ

The desire and choice to work for yourself is not necessarily more artistic or creative.

In many cases, a full-time job can gift you stability and freedom. A hard line to clock off. Time and resources to dedicate to what you love: family, making pottery, surfing, keeping a beautiful home.

But for some of us, this never feels right, never feels like quite enough. For some of us, we feel a bone deep calling to be able to devote ourselves fully to our work and our art, out in the world.

I want to remind you this desire is not shameful, or stupid or selfish.

This desire is a worthy cause.

This feeling calls out to you for a reason.

And it is no less real even if you don’t know exactly what it looks like just yet.

Almost no one knows what it looks like before they have begun.

It is through the doing, it is through taking that calling seriously, through repeated action, that ‘sense’ begins to softly unfold, usually at a pace slower than we bargained for.

read more about how I wrote my business into existence, and more on this topic here:

It’s not wrong to want to make a living from your art.

It’s also not wrong to want to have your art seen by the world for no reason other than your desire to share it.

It is very human to want to show off what we love to do.

Like a child calling out to their mother Did you see?! Watch me again!? Was I good?!

It is very human to feel satisfied when finishing something. It is very human to feel a sense of accomplishment and pride, witnessing a collection of our work take form. It is good for self-esteem. It’s good for building self trust. If you want more of these qualities, keep writing, keep painting, keep sharing your work, regardless of the outcome.

Reflect back on what you have made, keep making, and the clarity will come. The knowing will come.

The trust will come.

Just

Keep

Going.

ೀ ㅤ۫ ㅤ۪ㅤ۫ ㅤ ♡ ㅤ

I don’t know Aoba's story, but I’m guessing a lot of people thought she was weird.

I’m guessing a lot of people thought what she was doing was a bad idea. She’d never make it. She was wasting her time. It was weird, embarrassing, too much, not enough.

I don’t know what she thought. I don’t know if she thought she could ever do this full-time as a career. I doubt she ever thought she’d be playing two sold out shows at the Tokyo Opera Hall to kickstart a 15th anniversary world tour when she first started to write and perform her songs.

I don’t know if it was something she did out of pure joy or determination or both. I’m guessing the last one. It’s almost always a combination of the two.

For me, creation isn’t just about love.

For me, business isn’t just about growth.

I am not whipped up in a state of ecstatic rapture every time I sit down to write.

Not even close.

Sometimes I feel I have nothing to say until I write a few pages of garbage and an unsuspecting glimmer catches my eye.

Sometimes I have seventeen million ideas and have to talk to myself like a toddler on a sugar high to get anything done.

Birthing your work into the world isn’t always easy or sweet in the moment, but I would argue to the end of the earth that it is always, always worth it.

You never know where it will take you.

You never know how it will change the way you see yourself.

You will never know if you don’t start but starting, unfortunately, is it easy part.

You have to keep going, even if you don’t know where the road is heading.

But one day you will.

And you’ll shower your past self with tears of gratitude that you stayed the course, even in the dark.

Emmie xo

ೀ ㅤ۫ ㅤ۪ㅤ۫ ㅤ ♡ ㅤ

The early bird pricing for the Creatives Cocoon ends tonight.

Part of my art, I believe, is teaching. It’s something I have done since I was a teenager, teaching kids guitar and saxophone from my family home.

I am thankful every single day that I can teach, work and create in a way that feels true to me. I am thankful I can teach with poetry, with intuition, with conversation and sharing as a group. Not with rules, hierarchy and stagnant content repeated time and time again.

If you are self-employed, a creative, or simply feel the call to be cocooned in this intimate space, Sierra & I would love to have you.

I know you’ll find permission, motivation, inspiration and most importantly: practical tools & support to build a world of magic, in your own way. A little joy, a little discipline, a few hands to hold and lanterns to share, as we each walk our own imperfect, winding paths in the dark.

c/o ichiko aoba