The Three Acts Of Every Artist's Journey

The Road For Artists: It Starts Within

The Song From Today's Episode: Straw Man, Sail To The Moon

There are 3 acts of every artist’s journey.

Act 1: Asleep
Act 2: Awakening
Act 3: Awakened

Act 1:

You create work as a selfish artist at home. You think your work is exceptional and are owed money and fame. You may hoard your work in your drawer or under your bed. You are bitter that other artists are famous, but you are not. You are just as good as them but poor and unhappy.
Your work is about you and your struggle to wake up. You create work about your heartbreaks, bad parents, and the unfairness of life and mimic songs of love and devotion. And you dare to call that art.*
Eventually, you have enough and want to collect what is owed. You realize that no one will discover and pick you. You know that no one will come and make you rich and famous. Now, you take matters into your own hands. You use social media to show yourself and your work. You follow the rules to get the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. But no one wants your selfish work. It is ugly.
So now you try and force that ugly work onto people, perhaps with ads and shouting, pretty makeup, dancing, screaming, and showing your beautiful life in pictures and videos. ‘Look at me!’ you say. But they look away.
You realize that something does not rhyme. You spent your entire childhood chasing a dream, and it eludes you. You put in the 10,000 hours, for God’s sake! Where is your price? So, you start to contemplate your approach. Who is your work for? Who are you delighting? You think perhaps you are selfish. And you are.
You consume content about online business, marketing, and entrepreneurship. You explore what artists have done that ‘made it.’ You get into self-development and perhaps meditation. You feel that this approach lightens the grips of selfishness, and you relax into your work. Your work starts to change.
You learn that commerce is about solving problems. You understand that to solve your issue of acquiring money and fame, you need to get money and attention from someone. You know that for someone to give you money, you must provide them value. You understand that for someone to pay attention to you, you must help them get what they want. Your work starts to become about others and not about yourself.
You struggle to monetize your art as it is not made for such commerce. Art is gift-giving, and your awakening artist’s heart knows that. So you explore creating products and services around your art to make money so you finally have time to make art. Perhaps you start teaching or coaching, create courses and communities, and maybe make money.
You know this cannot be it. This is not what you signed up for. You signed up for art, artistry, and the life of an artist. Yet you make barely any art. Perhaps you make barely any money. Maybe you are lost in money making. Either way, you do need money. Keep your business alive for now. Keep your part-time job even if it is unbearable.

The only way out of your dilemma is to enter Act 2.

*Express any topic! The intention behind the work is what matters. The state you create works in matters. Topics are dances of creativity. Sex and joy are as sacred as god and love.

Act 2:

A life of service and gift-giving awaits you, which is quite joyous. It is what artists do, and you are an artist.
You pick a group of people and delight them with your art. You are specific! You decide to devote your life to them through art. This is scary as you are now exposing yourself to that group, and they respond. You get feedback, and that hurts. Perhaps your work is not as good as you thought it was.
You take all your might and keep making and sharing your work because that is what you do now. You often feel so much pain that you repeatedly run back to Act 1 until you eventually stop running. You use feedback from your people and ignore all other opinions. You simply serve and want to delight them with what you create selflessly. It is not about you anymore; it is about them. They start to appreciate you for it.
Your work now becomes your gift. It becomes good enough for your fans to love and share it. Positive feedback and word of mouth kick in slowly. This is not the overnight success you dream of, but you are delighted and happy serving your fans. This is different from the breakthrough success, dollar signs, or amount of attention you wanted; for some reason, you are content. You keep serving your fans.
Perhaps you get the reward of money with your art, but that is not why you do the work. You do it for the sake of doing it. Perhaps you build a selfless business around your craft out of joy. You overflow, so you give of yourself, perhaps as a product or service. Maybe you just share, and people want to give back to you. You can choose to monetize your craft. That is up to you.

Sneakily, you mature into Act 3.

Act 3:

You lost yourself in your work, and that is good. You are no more when you create your work. You flow with life, and the wind is in your back. You are not fighting anymore; you are living. You have surrendered yourself to your work and to your fans and God. Creation flows through you. You realize that making art and delighting your fans is your spiritual discipline. Perhaps you never considered yourself spiritual, and the words don’t matter, but you feel God through your work. You are absorbed when you create it, and that is meditation. You have no words for it, but you are delighted to participate in the dance that life has planned for you. You feel you have a mission, and you do.
You need no guidance at this stage; you will be helped and guided. You realize that your work spreads naturally to the right hearts, and you awaken them. Not because you intend to but because your work holds the truth of the universe. It is beautiful. While you create your work, you disappear; there is only the creation of the work. The creator and the art do not exist, only the dance of creation. There is God, the artist, and the work of art. But perhaps there is just God.
You do not claim ownership of your creations; how could you? You did not create them. You are simply a vessel of truth and light. You dance with life. You, of course, live your life and return to live in the world, talk from your separate self, and connect to others as usual. Your identity shifted, and you are gracious in the way you interact. But you keep your relationship with God quiet. You simply commune and do your work. To speak of God is to dilute the message. Your work of art talks enough.

The journey of the arts mirrors the journey of the soul. Art is your way home. And it’s your time.

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Lila Tace