Having various experience is life enriching.  From ‘The Artist’s Way’: “All the arts we practice are apprenticeship.  The big art is our life.”

This doesn’t necessarily have to be an ‘art’ but anything you are passionate, excited or curious about.  They can all be considered apprenticeship.  They don’t have to shape your life – but can take part in the big picture.

According to an article in Forbes: ‘Freelance labour is on the rise. What you need to know,’ it says there will be a “true disruption in innovation in the labour economy.”  They say this is happening because ‘millennials face tough job prospects and often choose more flexibility in their life.”  They call this new way of working ‘freelance economy’ or ‘portfolio careers’.

I really think this aligns with considering your different art or projects or ‘gigs’ as your apprenticeship – your own portfolio career existence.

I think this interests me so much because I have done quite a few jobs.  My resume appears to be a bit all over the map, but a lot ties together and has brought about so many various opportunities.

For example, here are 3 main experiences, and what they led to:

Art School

• painting and drawing projects
• drafting classes             – architectural drafting / -plan take offs (estimating plans for list of materials needed to build) / -building rendering drawings

Exchange student

• love of learning / learning Dutch (living in the Netherlands! – how lucky am I?) / Writing stories / Blogging

Banking teller- admin & booking

• bookkeeping and payroll for our construction company
• Website updating
• working as a Credit Union advisor

I like that I have a variety of life experience.  it helps me to be adaptable, learn easily and allows for better communication and understanding of others.  I can take some of the things I learned in some areas and apply it in other areas. Life experience is cool like that.

Life experience has helped me to try different things, so I know myself better and what it is that I really enjoy doing and want to do more of.

I have had to let some things go because there just isn’t enough time in the day and other things have become more important to me.  I am not doing the estimating anymore and will only draft home plans if it is my husband building it, and only then in special circumstances.

I have so many projects I want to work on as well! I do have a vision for my creative empire, so I will continue to apprentice in a variety of ways and work on the ‘big art’ that is my life.

hugs,

Devon