My mother is usually right.

All my life I have gone through what my mother liked to call phases. When I stumble across something I like, I become…enthusiastic.

When I was in sixth grade, my class studied Egyptology for about 2 weeks, during which I decided I had been an Egyptian princess in a past life, and demanded to all there was to know about Egypt, ever. I researched tombs, customs, ancient artifacts; I even checked some books out of the library and taught myself how to read (and write!) hieroglyphics, all on my own time. One day, I got tired of Egypt.

When I was in high school, I played the flute. At first, I kind of sucked at it, which of course I saw as a challenge. I took countless private lessons, competed regionally, and took it very seriously. By the time graduation rolled around, I had gotten quite good, and very nearly decided to spend my life playing in a symphony. When it came time to choose a career path, I thought a great deal about it and realized…I was tired of the flute. I put the instrument down and never picked it back up.

I went off to college to study Graphic Design, with the idea in my head that I might consider Animation as a career. Two years into my Graphic Design program, I had a mid-college crisis. What I really wanted to do was Animate, and I was getting nowhere at this school. I took about 2 days to freak out, 2 weeks to research animation schools, and within the month, I had decided to transfer schools and move across the country. I spent the next 3 years studying animation, living it, breathing it, loving it. I graduated with my B.A., and then I sat down and looked around. And I realized, after all that…I had gotten tired of animation.

At about the time I tired of animation, I decided I wanted to be an illustrator. I abandoned animation, and worked tirelessly on new illustration pieces. I applied for jobs in the industry and got no bites. I got tired of illustration; now I wanted to be a photographer. I freelanced, I lusted after shiny new photography equipment, I freelanced some more. I started to tire. Now I wanted to be a graphic designer again, and set to work designing a portfolio.

It never stops. I’m constantly changing my mind, getting super-excited about something, and then changing my mind again. I may be sabotaging myself. I’m hoping that the small business I recently launched will curb my boredom a bit; it combines many different kinds of art that I love, so I hopefully I can keep my restless brain occupied with diverse projects. My client list seems to be growing, so keep your fingers crossed.

I’ve done my best not to think about the fact that I could have stayed in my original Graphic Design program in college, graduated a year earlier, gotten career help from the school, scored and internship, been offered a fantastic job, met the perfect man, gotten married and had 2.5 kids by now.