04/07/2022
I’m still on hiatus from working on stuff here, but I did create a new design for the design contest! Link in bio/in my stories to vote! and thank you forever if you do vote!! 🤗💜
So I wrote my usual novel of a description for my design, only to find out that there's a max 500 character limit for their descriptions, hahah so because I still want my ~*~*~*artist statement~*~*~* out there so people know why I made this design, I'm posting it here. haha
edit: added the rest of my description
The Care Bears are the same age as me. haha And I have been a fan for probably 39.5 years of their 40 year run (I even watch the current Unlock the Magic show, I love Dibble 😊), so I really wanted to make a design for this challenge!
As a lifelong Care Bears fan, I know the core message/theme of the series is to "CARE," and the general interpretation of "caring" = "caring for others" which I 1000% believe in (hence the “too!” in my design)--however, I wanted to make my design to specifically address “caring about yourself.” I know there are a lot of people who do not need to be reminded to do this. haha so this design is not for them. 😅 This design is for myself, and anyone else who cares about others without giving a second thought, but when it comes to caring about yourself, it's like learning to walk on your elbows. (i.e. "I don't even know how you would do that." haha)
It may seem like semantics, but I deliberately chose the title/words for my design as "don't forget to care about yourself, too!" instead of just saying "self care is important, too" or "don't forget self care" etc. because, for myself at least, I've noticed that the term "self care" has kind of taken on a broad definition of treating yourself/relaxing for a designated amount of time. And that's fine and good, but for myself, it's definitely not enough, and that's why I make the distinction between "self care" vs. actually "caring about yourself": actually giving a crap about your mental and physical wellbeing and not just taking some time to relax then going back to your unhealthy habits/mentality of NOT caring about yourself.
Without turning this into one of my therapy sessions (too late), my issues with deprioritizing myself stem from a bunch of stuff--as I'm sure is the case with anyone else in the same boat. Bad self esteem ("I don't deserve to care about myself"), lack of survival knowledge ("I don't know HOW to care about myself"), self-destructive mentality ("I don't WANT to care about myself"), selflessness turning into martyrdom ("Caring about others is more important than caring about myself"), unrealistic paranoia (“If I care about myself, I will turn into the selfish a-holes that I hate!”), unhealthy coping mechanisms ("This unhelpful/possibly harmful distraction makes me momentarily feel better, this must be caring about myself!"), and I’m sure a bunch of other things I can't think of at the moment. haha
But anyway, thanks to experiencing SEVERE burnout and an assortment of existential crises within the past couple years (not entirely related to the pandemic, but it definitely didn’t make things any better) I FINALLY slowly started addressing that list of issues. It’s definitely a long term work in progress, but I can finally say for the first time in my ENTIRE LIFE I’m actually trying to prioritize my mental and physical health over everything else. 💜
About the design itself, I’m trying out new stuff there, too. As I’m sure you’ve come to expect, my designs are normally vectors/clean lines + some kind of joke/pun. But this time I wanted to start trying more casual/rough hand-drawn style (I love the look of crayon and craypas!!) and my message isn’t a joke/pun this time, just a helpful reminder. ☺️
Anyway, thank you if you read all of this. 😅 And double thank you if you vote for my design! 🤗💕 (the voting helps it get noticed by the judges who choose the winners)
See you whenever I post here again! haha 😊👋
![🛍 SAVE 10% OFF🛍TIL 8/31 at Blue Genie Art Bazaar]'s webstore!🔆 Use code SUMMER21 🔆Just in case you’re interested in orde...](https://img3.fashionshops10.com/745/837/10158315137458372.jpg)
