Since writing the angry letter in Part 1 I have almost completely forgotten about this client. I have not yet replaced the work I lost, but I am 75% of the way there, which helps me to let go. I also do not feel angry at him anymore, and have let go of all the negative emotions associated with the situation. For these reasons I did not feel it was necessary to write a second letter at all. And no surprise, but he never contacted me to come back to work at the end of last month.
The reason I say I have almost completely forgotten about him is because while I have let go of the negative feelings, I do not want to forget the lessons that I learned from this experience. I feel I learned, or starting working on ways:
To trust my gut instinct when someone feels “off” to me
To respect myself enough to set and honor my own boundaries
To find ways to express my anger in an effort to let it go
To healthfully express my anger to those I am angry with directly, but with respect
I can not change, or help change, those who do not want to change themselves
I have used this experience to further my confrontation skills, such as with my roommates. It is still a nerve racking process for me, with many panic attacks along the journey, but I am getting there and not giving up.
One of my favorite online art communities is deviantART. It is a great place to see interesting and beautiful art from others and share your own while fostering a sense of community. It is a lot like a blog, where you can post comments and interact with other artists.
On my most recent visit to the site I came across a contest they ran called “Project Positivity”. The competition closed awhile ago, but I still thought it was a very interesting idea so I decided to make my own. The project asked artists to create an image with text that lists at least 10 things that they like about themselves. Here were the rules that relate to this story:
You cannot ask someone else what they like about you, this is from your heart.
You must not be negative, even sneakily. (‘I like my hair because it makes people laugh’ for example is a negative comment in disguise. Throwing this rule in here to make sure you all stay positive).
I thought that given my recent negative experiences, such as dealing with the “angry letter” former client and just starting to recover what I hope will be the most traumatic events of my life related to my severe childhood abuse, I thought a little positivity might be in order.
So here would have been my submission for this project. I hope you enjoy it and that it inspires you to do your own. Here is a low quality web version:
For a closer look and for the ability to actually read the text, download the Positivity PDF.
I used this tutorial to help create this design. Here are links to ones on deviantART that I liked and that inspired me:
To see all artwork that was submitted on deviantART, click here or here for more.
Feel free to leave a comment just listing 10 things you like about yourself, or maybe you will even be inspired enough to write your own “10 Things I Like About Me” post. I hope you let me know if you do!
This is a personal weblog, about topics that are at times controversial, offensive, horrific, and hopefully sometimes inspiring. Read more about me and this blog.
