I'm thinking that I am being called to mentor several of my women friends on letting go of other people's unrealistic expectations and negative opinions of us (or, really, our perceptions of what their expectations and opinions are, since they're much more likely to be caught on their own mental hamster wheels, worrying what we think of them than they are having any expectations or opinions at all, of us).

I hid my little drawings for the longest time. When I finally worked on some during Inktober, and did them in the living room while watching TV, then got the nerve to post them on Instagram, I was surprised at how many people liked them. I see amateurish efforts that fail to fully express what I "see" in my head. But my husband liked them, and my sister in law said she'd buy them before buying some $750 paintings we saw at an art exhibit, and people whose work I really admire followed me on Instagram! I still don't think of myself as "an artist" in the way I do as a writer. But neither have I - nor likely WILL I - dedicate the time and effort in practicing art as seriously as I have over decades of writing! So why should I compare myself to them? I have no expectations of my artistic skills, nor does anyone else. I still struggle a little with disappointment when the thing on my paper is so far off the thing in my head, but the I remind myself that I have more than 1000 words with which to describe that thing to you, and even if my sketches are worth only a few words, they're not my only means of self-expression. Just something different to play with.