In May 2018, standing at attention, with my right hand up, I repeated after an officer the oath of enlistment. I was beaming with pride, knowing I was finally doing something bigger than myself.
Joining the Air Force remains the proudest thing I have ever done in my life. I was 26, a college drop-out, worked two jobs yet still barely made ends meet, lived in an apartment that was falling apart, seemingly with no direction in life.
I had low self-confidence; so full of shame about how my life had turned out. Coming from a Southeast Asian family, we valued higher education, family, and status more than anything. None of which I had.
Now, I finally found my real purpose. Living a life of service to a country who welcomed me and gave me the opportunities I wouldn’t have had otherwise. It felt like this was what I was meant to do.
Joining the military was my blank slate. A fresh start. No one knew who I was previously, no one knew of my failures, I could start over. So I decided to start strong. I strived to excel at everything I did.
I was sure I would stay the full 20 years on active duty, travel the world, take on overseas assignments and rarely be stateside, and enjoy a nice retirement package after all of that.
A little over a year after completing all trainings, from basic military training to technical school, I was stationed at my first duty station in Georgia.
Not long after, March 2020 happened.
So much for my new career! Since I was barely processed into the unit, and the base sized down to essential personnel only, I didn’t report in person for months. I did not like it that all.
While in a limbo, I figured, well, we had just bought this house. Might as well do something? When we were first looking for a house, my husband had made sure there was an extra bedroom to turn into my art room. Oh, yeah I got married by the way haha! I met my husband in tech school!
So I got to work.
I turned the spare bedroom into an art studio! It was super humble with just a desk, a chair, and a bookshelf.
In May 2020, I started an art instagram account to document my art journey. I joined art challenges and met many, many artist friends online. When I’d began getting inquiries about my art, I read books about starting a business, watched a lot of YouTube videos, talked to people for advice, and in September 2020, I finally opened an Etsy store.
Of course, my first buyers were friends and family. I’m so grateful for them! They gave my Etsy store a strong start, which Etsy started pushing out to more people.
I remember getting my very first order from someone I didn’t know from Texas. I was so excited! It was incredibly validating. Shortly after that, I’d gotten orders from other states, even as far as the UK and Germany! Complete strangers to me; these were people who just organically found my art on Etsy.
A few artist friends I’d met on Instagram who were from Canada, the UK, and Australia had purchased as well. I was elated to be sending my art overseas. It felt surreal.
When things slowly started to open back up, I excitedly continued on with my new career with the Air Force. But I still came in this studio to paint every chance I got.
Little did I know, this planted a seed.
My Air Force unit had an Art Guild that put out art shows I participated in year after year, and I even became its vice president by year 5 in my career. So even while doing my duty with the military, art naturally became woven into everything I did.
By the end of my first tour, I knew it was time to shift priorities. I had a few career options I considered with the military, and when none of those would work for me, I pulled the trigger and transferred to the Reserves.
This move was scary and exhilarating all at once.
Going from a stable, full-time career to part-time was the scariest thing I’d done in years. but it was one of those decisions that I knew deep in my heart was inevitable. I could finally make art my main focus.
Now, I paint full-time, while only traveling one weekend a month to fulfill my drills with the Reserves.
In this blog I will share with you this journey of pursuing art. If this is something you have been wanting to do but haven’t, I hope you get inspired from my experience, learn from my own lessons and the highs and lows of this path, know about my mindset shift practices, and finally take the leap so you can live a creative, fulfilling life.
Until then, keep your dream alive! 🦋
with love,
Katherine
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