You can learn anything!
How are you all doing?
I can’t believe that we are halfway through the year 2025. I feel like this year has been churning pretty fast.
I have been struggling with my ADHD overload for the past few days. I’m able to focus only a few minutes at a time and I’m utilizing the time to make sure that I catch up with my deadlines. I suddenly developed an obsessive interest towards watercolors and it’s not helping me in anyway.
Ever since I made the switch from a very analytical job to a creative one, I had one question gnawing my brain.
Why?
Why did I choose to be creative and sabotage everything I have worked hard to build?
The feeling of learning something new every single day excited me more. I was happy to turn up every single day even though I had to work very hard. It was surprising and terrifying at the same time.
2016 is when I seriously started to explore my options other than writing code. I had lot of options:
Crochet clothes and handbags
knitted scarfs and jumpers
Sewing baby clothes
Starting a Food blog
Combine sewing + crochet
What do you think I did?
Oh, here’s my Food blog from 5 years ago:
https://samaiyalkattu.wordpress.com/
I learnt every single one of these through youTube and nothing else! I came to a conclusion.
We can learn anything, if we put our mind to it!
When I switched to drawing, it felt easier as I explored other creative outlets before. Every time I felt like a failure, I will remind myself of all of the above.
The Big Leap
My switch to children’s book industry came in 2019 and I couldn’t be more happier. But, whenever I couldn’t climb the ladder faster, I felt defeated.
There came a point when my work actually felt pretty stagnant and my process felt pretty boring. I struggled to keep up with my work as I hated my own process. I dedicated my time in learning the skill over and over. This time something felt right.
Since I was raising a child, trying to earn and support my mother financially, my growth was a bit slower than I expected. I didn’t explore sketchbook until much later.
The new learning path
I love painting using Gouache, Oils and acrylic. What about watercolors, you ask? Nope! Watercolor is a medium that broke me.
I did not like watercolors at all. I started my painting journey with oils and watercolors wasn’t even an option for me. Now that I sketch regularly in my sketchbook, watercolor was a very viable option.
As I continued on, I came across this delightful book. I borrowed it from the library and have been paying a hefty fine every time the renewal day comes. I always seem to forget the renewal date!
Here’s something I painted today following the instructions from the book. I like it so far and this gives me hope.
If you have read this far, I’m here to tell you that:
“You can learn anything”
I bought the book “The boy, the mole, the fox and the horse” by Charlie Mackesy today and here’s what one of the pages from the book says and it feels so relevant to this post:
So, have some cake, learn what you like and keep learning until you reach where you want to be!
Happy July and see you all in my next post!