I have a treat for you today – a guest post from the lovely Kendra Kantor, whose story showss that dreams can take you in all sorts of wonderful directions if you let them.
A few years ago, I was a young girl who had lost her dream in life I had just dropped out of art school and had no idea where I was going to end up and no inkling of what I wanted to be when I “grew up”. I knew I loved art but I felt like my interests were too diverse. I knew from the word “go” I wanted to own my own business but doing what? In the small business internet world, all the advice is to have a cohesive brand.
I thought, how can I have a cohesive brand if I’m doing x,y, q, l and m all at once?! I couldn’t fathom working for anyone but myself but I knew I had to focus my goals and dreams. Time moved on, and it was after I got pregnant, moved 500 miles, had a baby, dealt with crippling depression, anxiety and postpartum depression, healed, and then got married before I really started to figure out what my dreams were.
I wanted to help people. I wanted to make a difference. More specifically, I knew what it was like to be a teenager or woman suffering and feeling like there was no one out there who understood or could help. I wanted to be that support. And so my focus became mental health wellness. My official bio reads as follows “Mentor and Guide for creative women looking to embrace their self discovery and improve their mental health wellness”.
I felt good about my choice. It felt like the right direction. I wasn’t going to be a famous artist anymore, no, but I could use art in my healing and mentoring women. I started creating art just for ME. Wow that was an experience. In all my 20+ years of life, I had almost never really created with no goal, no audience in mind. It was always to improve my portfolio for college, to share on my blog, to try to sell online.
My business is growing slowly and I’m still doing some healing work on my own. So in November 2013, I began work in a journal. I started coming to the page, everyday and creating what I deemed “Dear Self” poems. These became notes, poems, affirmations, stories…to myself, about myself, about life and hurt and joy. I didn’t share these works with the world, I didn’t instagram them or tweet them, I kept them safe in my journal and it was an intense transformation.
There became a time, after I finished the journal that I decided the pages, the words, emotions and experiences were something I needed to share with the world. But decided to not just write a blog post. I decided to do something bigger and scarier, I decided to self publish. Here’s a secret: since I was probably 10, I’ve wanted to be a published poet. And I’m making it happen!
I’ve learned, over the last few months as I create this book, birth this project into being, that just me being an artist wasn’t part of the plan but it fits. This has been a scary journey because for all the research I’ve done in the past about traditional publishing, self publishing was a whole different ball game. My business is about helping women heal, feel less alone and create their own amazing lives. I didn’t envision me sharing my own artwork as being a part of that but it so totally is.
Because I suffer from depression and anxiety, most of my art reflects that. So publishing my work is a new way for me to tell women, “hey, you’re not alone. I’ve been there.” And that is beautiful to me.
Deciding to go for a dream that doesn’t seem to line up with you “business plan” might seem crazy to some people at first. People might wonder why you are dedicating do much time to something that might not make money and doesn’t fit in with your “brand”.
But I’m here to tell you, do it anyways. Or sit and think about how you can incorporate other dreams into your business. There’s no reason to let go of everything just because it might not fit your “brand” right away.
I have learned so much about myself during the process of creating my art pieces, self publishing this book and beyond. This has been a lifelong dream and something I am so proud of myself for seeing come to fruition. I couldn’t have done it if I told myself it was too hard or too out there. I told myself, I deserve this, just for me.
You deserve it, just for you. Go for it.
About Kendra
Kendra wants to live in a world where mental health wellness and self care is a top priority. As a Wellness Mentor and Guide, Kendra Kantor helps creative women learn to focus on themselves and learn they are not alone in their struggles.
Her latest offering: “Dear Self: a collection of poems and art” is Kendra’s first publication. The official release is date June 10th, 2014. Signed per-orders are available through Kendra’s website, today! This collection of 30 poems and art perfectly blends her love of visual art and the written word. What started as a personal project to improve her wellness blossomed into a lifetime dream coming true.
When she’s not helping you improve your life and wellness or working on her next book, you can find Kendra indulging in her guilty pleasure reads (romances or zombie novels), stealing as many cuddles as possible from her toddler and bribing her husband to go get ice cream (it’s really not that hard!).
Pre-order your copy of Kendra’s new book “Dear Self”, today! http://kendrakantor.com/dearself
Website: http://kendrakantor.com
Blog http://likeabirdblog.com