Back when I drew a lot, there was a method I used to measure my artistic progress. I would stick my favorite pictures I made on a cork board in my room where I could easily see them. When I drew new pictures that I thought surpassed the ones on the board, I would replace the old ones and put them in a binder.
Every few months, I would get the binder out from underneath my bed and look at all of the old work that at one point, I thought was good. Even though it was a bit uncomfortable to see how poor my anatomy and shading was, it was also extremely gratifying to see how much I had improved.
I've been looking through all my old posts, and that's kind of how I feel now.
When I was sixteen, I felt ten. (Yikes) I definitely don't feel ten anymore.
Driving no longer terrifies me. It's actually pretty fun. I don't feel like I'm going to die.
I no longer mistake immature Blue Dashers for Swift Setwings. This is the thing that probably made me cringe the most. (And I cringed at nearly everything) Also, mistaking what is clearly a female dragonfly for a male? How embarrassing.
Wow. I really wouldn't stop bashing Santa. I'm sorry Santa, you didn't deserve that. None of the jokes at your expense were clever or funny anyway.
I'm not sleeping 20 hours a day. I actually have a somewhat normal sleep schedule. I'm not grossly sweaty all the time either.
When my mom is gone, I can take as many showers as I want because I can do my own laundry now.
I've also noticed that I've been clinging less to nostalgia. I recently gave away some stuffed animals that I've owned ever since I was tiny. The idea of getting rid of them would have been inconceivable a few years ago. Things I've had since forever aren't valuable to me anymore. Or at least, the nostalgia of these things aren't, and without the emotional attachment, what good is an old nasty stuffed duck? I sometimes think that maybe I should miss this stuff, but I don't. I've even gotten rid of that old play-kitchen thing. (If you remember that old post haha)
I've noticed a lack of strong emotions in general. Not exactly in a bad way. I feel sort of more emotionally balanced and relaxed and content most of the time. Which I guess is a good thing? I still experience things such as righteous fury and laughter at least, so I know I still have functional feelings. I suppose all this is just what being an adult is like.
Which is fine by me, because I like not crying a lot.
Basically what I'm saying is that I've definitely leveled up as a person, and I think I'll continue to get better.
Happy New Year. :)
Wow. Christie, this is so heart-felt and well written. Thank you for sharing and keep up the great work! Happy New Year to you too. (:
Posted by: Mommy | 12/31/2015 at 08:34 AM