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Why I Choose Art
Blog 1 | March 26, 2025
“What is your why?”
Simon Sinek is the impressive author and motivational speaker who came up with the concept of “knowing your why”. Over the last several years, I have sat through webinars and training for different jobs and the common motivator used to keep burn out from happening was adopted by this concept. I had to ask myself why I was doing what I was doing. If I didn’t have an answer, then I had no purpose. And that’s a no go for me. Part of what makes me who I am is knowing what my purpose is. So, for every job I took, every role I volunteered for, every challenging situation I found myself in or project I took on, I asked myself that question.
“Jess, what is your why?”
Because in order to know how I was going to do something, I first had to know why I was doing it in the first place. This concept, or mindset as I like to view it, is supposed to help a person get over those disappointment slumps when things slow down or don’t go the way they were planned. It’s a motivational tool to keep you going.
Art has always been a part of my life. I can remember as far back as the age of 4, drawing pictures of killer whales because I was Free Willy‘s biggest fan. I always loved the praise I received when I drew something well but what I loved more was seeing the smile on someone’s face when I gave them something I drew just for them. That rush of satisfaction that filled the deepest parts of my heart when the emotions would flood the recipient. As I grew older and began to take commissions, I would be asked to draw loved ones who had passed and add them to a picture of family members they had never met. When I would give the final product to the commissioner, the teary eyes, the warm smile, the flood of memories, the gratefulness that resulted from the drawing – brought me sheer joy.
That is when I would be reminded of my why.
I choose art to bring joy.
I choose art to bring back memories.
I choose art to help others feel emotions that they didn’t know they had.
I choose art to bring people together.
I choose art to help point people to God and a greater purpose.
The image I chose for today’s blog post, is of my oldest daughter giving her dad a hug on the day he left for a deployment. I gave this to her because she is very close to her dad and I knew, as painful as this day was for both of them, she would look at this drawing and remember that hug. She would remember the whole deployment and how it made her into a stronger, resilient person. She would also remember the end – the day he came home. It was not drawn to remember the sadness, but the experience as whole.
This is my why.