I am currently benefiting greatly by living in what I call my Zone of Genius. Please do not misinterpret this as being arrogant (as I believe we all have a Zone of Genius), I’m just trying to be honest… and in all honesty I should say that I mess up from time to time. What I call my zone of genius is doing the things in life that I believe I am uniquely suited to do and have a special talent for. At the top of my zone of genius I believe I have a special gift to help other people, which is why my family comes at the heart of everything I do… its also why I have a family. I didn’t notice that helping people was a gift until recently, I always thought it was just a small thing that helped me to get by in daily life. But, looking back on my life, this is one thing that has been with me since childhood, and even though there are many people out there with this same gift, it was unique in my circles. I believe my other special talent is creating pieces of art that make people happy, when I’m doing this I know that I’m doing something I am uniquely suited to do. Until recently I did not know how big my art actually was to me. It began when I was young drawing pictures and having other people light up when they saw the things that I created. The reason I began tattooing was because I was inspired to create something for people on a deeper level than most tattoos seem to have, and I wanted to provide for my family through doing something that I loved. I believed that I could make a connection with the person and work with them to create something would allow part of themselves to light up. Then over the last couple of years I wandered into just doing every tattoo that could make money because I lied to myself and told myself that that’s what I had to do. I was also afraid of giving every piece everything I have, because if it didn’t turn out the way I wanted I would have and excuse to fall back on. I was afraid of my Zone of Genius because I was afraid if I tried to live there I might fail… So I cheated myself to be safe. In cheating myself, part of me felt unfulfilled and this feeling grew larger, and until recently I didn’t know what this feeling was deep inside myself. It was my call to live in my Zone of Genius being unanswered and it began to make me feel like art was not what I wanted to do… But this was also not true… I had to look even deeper. What I really want is to live in my Zone of Genius; where I use my special gifts to the fullest and create art to my fullest. What I feel like I need in my tattooing is to have a one on one relationship with the person, where I get to know them enough to feel like I can truly create something amazing for them. If I do not make this commitment to doing work that fits into the sweet spot in my Zone of Genius, then part of me will wither inside, and I want this part of me to flourish.
So this is my promise to you and myself… I will live in my Zone of Genius, and give every tattoo everything that I have, and also give my life everything that I have. In doing this there will be tattoos that I will have to say no to, but that is just me admitting my fault and knowing that I am not the best person suited for the tattoo because they don’t fit into the sweet spot of my Zone of Genius. I will only do the pieces that I feel I can connect with and do to the best of my ability. If you feel like you have a tattoo that needs special attention, and for some reason you feel like you haven’t found the “right” person to do it… Please contact me… because these seem to be the pieces that I do best and I get to use my talents to the fullest.
Thank you all so much for everything!