Finding My Bliss

I had a conversation several years ago that really did tug at my heart. One of my amazing cousins, role models, mentors, and friends talked to me about this little thing called "bliss". When I came to her I felt defeated, upset, hurt, and unsure of what my next move should be. She talked with me and quite simply told me that whatever I did, I had to find my bliss. My bliss? I had no idea what this meant, until I saw her finding her bliss. She said, did, and lived things that made her happy and helped contribute to the happiness of the people around her. After that conversation I did many different things that helped me to find my bliss; I changed my major to Religious Studies, I realized that I was called to serve the church through Youth Ministry, I started to travel, I spent more and more time with family and friends. I found so many things that helped to contribute to my happiness, and lately I have found just a few more.

Just over a month ago I traveled to Denver (okay Arvada) to be a bridesmaid in the wedding of a dear friend of mine. She and I met in college and instantly connected. I will be very honest in saying that when Dani asked me to be her bridesmaid I was blown away, never in a million years would I have expected that, but I was so honored. As we were preparing and planning the Bachelorette party the Maid of Honor suggested that we go to this place called Art on the Brix. I remember reading that message with total confusion and a little hesitation. Okay, so you want me to sit down with a group of people and paint and we expect this to look even slightly like the painting that we are trying to make? Haha Good luck! I remember the day of the party stopping in Laramie and seeing my best friend Kyle. I told him I was going to go paint for the first time since grade school and that I was pretty sure my painting would look like crap. He and I laughed, but figured I would enjoy a couple of cocktails and great conversation with some new friends. 

We arrived at Art on the Brix and got started. At the end of the class I was BLOWN away! I immediately sent a picture to Kyle and his response was "who painted that?" Neither one of us expected it to turn out quite as good as it did (trust me that it wasn't all that great in comparison with what it was supposed to look like). 

The whole Art on the Brix experience was so much more incredible than I had expected. So as I was preparing for another trip to Denver, I knew that I needed to give this another shot. Well we did, three times in one weekend! My cousin and I painted our little hearts out and walked away impressed with our work. So what was my next move? Going out and buying all the supplies I needed to make this happen of course! See, what started out as just a fun girls night helped unlock such a great outlet for me to relieve stress and find my bliss! I am super excited to continue to paint, knowing that my artwork is nothing extraordinary and likely not anything that another person would like to hang in their house, but knowing that for 30 minutes or more a day when I paint I am able to think of nothing but using the small talent that God gave me that took me 23 years to find!