Be your own lifeboat.

I began this blog nearly two years ago, in a place of transition and unknowns, just before graduating from my master's program in Colorado and moving 2000 miles back to the Southeast. For the past 18 months since the move, I've struggled to maintain my artistic and professional identity while volunteering, networking, and holding peripheral part-time jobs. But this New Year has brought me the gift of a new full-time position, and for the next few months I'll be enjoying a different kind of transition as I learn to effectively serve at-risk youth and their families as an intensive in-home counselor.

The drawing shown above, titled "Self-Portrait with Water Wings," is a reminder that I have everything I need to stay afloat. (Look for this image in Patti Digh's book What I Wish For You, due out this spring.) As I begin this new professional challenge, I'm making a commitment to an ongoing practice of artmaking for self-care and spiritual reconnection.

Here's hoping that the New Year fairy will leave something nice under your pillow, too.