Some Dots Are Given. Some Dots Are Chosen.

Trusting the path even when you can't see where it leads

Have you ever looked back and suddenly seen how everything connected?
Even the parts that hurt?

I found myself thinking about this as I’m in the middle of rebuilding something that has been in my heart for a long time. When I look back at where I am and how I got here, I can see the dots connecting.

2014. I had just started creating art. I had no idea I would one day be writing about it. I was terrible at writing. I still had so much to learn. But looking back, this was a dot I didn’t know I was creating.

The Dots I Never Would Have Chosen

If I had not hit an emotional rock bottom years ago, I would have never started drawing and painting.

If I had not left my career, I probably would not be on this journey to build a creativity business.

If I had not been part of an exhibition my friend Jasmine curated years ago. I probably would never have created the Future Self Portrait program.

Pain. Uncertainty. Unexpected detours.
Those are some of ‘my dots.’

I wonder if yours looks similar. Not the same story. But a similar feeling.
That life kept nudging you toward something even when you couldn’t see what it was.

Curiosity has always been one of my dots, too.
Every time I followed what pulled me even without knowing where it would lead, it became a dot. A small one sometimes. But a dot.

And then I realized, I could be proactive and create my own dots. Deciding where I wanted to go instead of waiting to be nudged.

Do I see them all clearly? No. Doubt still shows up and tells me I’m not making progress. That there is nothing to look forward to.

So, I close my eyes. Smile and remind myself that I have the power of choice.

Some dots are created over coffee and Colombian pastries. This might be one of them.

Your Dots Are Connecting Too

So do you.

You can choose to listen to doubt. Or you can choose to keep planting seeds and trust that your dots are becoming something you cannot see fully yet.

Life will nudge us to create our dots. Or we can decide to create them ourselves. Either way, they will connect. And when they do, it will probably look nothing like what we imagined.

But that’s the beauty of it. Whatever name you have for it, life, the Universe, God, has a way of showing us how much grander it is than anything we could have planned.

I’m working on creating my dots and trusting that they’ll connect as I follow my heart.

After all, life is a journey. Not a destination.

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I’m Claudia, a portrait artist who uses creativity to help women see themselves differently. Not just who they are but who they are becoming.

I’d love to hear from you. claudia@marulandaart.com