Be Yourself

It is very interesting, the stories that we tell about ourselves. When I said that I was a designer, the way that I interacted with the world was very different. When I said that I was an artist, that changed everything. When I was a designer, I was being told what to do by clients, and nothing ever seemed to be good enough. There was a perfectionism and a control aspect that was beyond my control. It was really about getting a job done and making sure the client was happy. I could only put so much of myself into that. When I decided to become an artist again, it was me reclaiming my identity. I was a very talented graphic designer, but I stopped calling myself that. People would meet me and ask me, 'Who are you? What do you do?' I would say, 'Hi, I'm Rachel. I'm an artist.' I decided to start painting again and really dive back into my roots as an artist. That changed the course of my entire reality.