Erika Hess is an artist, advocate for the arts, and the creator of I Like Your Work Podcast. As Erika so beautifully says in this week’s episode, we have different stories from different seasons of our lives. Each story is unique and full of lessons, reflections, and aha! moments.

Erika walks us through her story that began at 27 years-old. After graduating from graduate school she realized she hadn’t planned her life past that point. She decided to move to Brooklyn and she started working at a boutique kids art school, and then as an artist assistant. She was in the art capital of the world, she found a way to support herself, she had a great partner, she was connected to wonderful women and she had a studio to paint, but she wasn’t happy. The truth is - she was living with major anxiety, and she was coping through drinking and partying. Everything changed when she received a grant to make a comic book to illustrate organic container gardening. She traveled to North Carolina to WOOF, but when her uncle died everything changed.

It was at this point that she started to listen to her intuition. She listened to the cues and allowed herself to pause. She ultimately took a job at an art school - a job that she loved, and the place that the universe brought her to sit, pause, and confront her fears. It was in this place of stillness that she confronted the fact that she wanted to have a family. Admitting this to herself required her to be vulnerable, something that didn’t come easy. It was in that vulnerable space that she asked herself the tough questions and took time to work on herself emotionally. Erika’s words on what it meant to be vulnerable with herself, and then others, will remind you of just how important it is to let yourself be seen and heard. Her reflections on moving through instability and coming out on the other side feeling secure and grounded, will remind you that we are never alone. As Erika says in this week’s episode, we all have a guiding sense to help us - and it’s up to us to get quiet enough to hear it. Today, she has an amazing partner and two kids, she continues to work on her art, and through her vulnerability she continues to connect with others.

“It was in this place of stillness that I confronted the fact that I wanted to have a family. This was a really hard thing to wrap my brain around because I had to confront the taboo that artists don’t have kids (which is totally untrue), and I had to make myself vulnerable by admitting this.”

— Erika Hess

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7bZHrtjAzbksbLWNaak1NM

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stories-of-inspiring-joy/id1510488632

To learn more about Erika and her podcast I Like Your Work visit her website erikabhess.com. You can submit work to be featured on her blog, I Like Your Work Studio Visit, by visiting: https://www.erikabhess.com/ilikeyourworkstudiovisit and check out her newsletter! You can find Erika on Instagram @ilikeyourworkpodcast and email her at ilikeyourworkpodcast@gmail.com

Stories of Inspiring Joy is a production of Seek The Joy Media and created by Sydney Weiss. To learn more and submit your story, click here.

*Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this episode are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Stories of Inspiring Joy.