![\"Caris](\"http:\/\/www.pikaland.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/LunarWaterWatcher.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t know how to swim until I was a teenager.<\/p>\n
The only place I ever\u00a0hung out in was the\u00a0shallow end of pools. The\u00a0area that when you stood up, the water\u00a0would only reach your waist. The sissy end<\/em> \u2013 my friends would call it. At first I didn\u2019t want to join them at the deep end, but it got lonely (as it often does, on the shallow end). I asked myself \u2013 what was the worst thing that could happen? That I\u2019d drown? There\u2019s a lifeguard. Stick with your friends, hang on to the side of the pool and you\u2019ll be fine.<\/em> What if your leg cramps up and you can\u2019t move them? Stick with your friends, hang on to the side of the pool and you\u2019ll be fine.<\/em><\/p>\n Fine.<\/p>\n So I made my way over to the deep end.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t drown. I stuck to my friends and inched out further away the sides of the pool gleefully with each subsequent visit.<\/p>\n Slowly over the next few weeks, I found that I could float quite well. I drifted away from the edges, letting go of the reassuring feel of the mosaic under my fingers and the sound of the lapping water against the hidden water overflow outlets. Swimming wasn\u2019t hard at all, I thought. I could even tread water in a way that didn\u2019t tire me out, with just my legs, kicking at a lazy pace that kept me afloat. I found that I could even do the same with just my arms.<\/p>\n Bobbing against the water and I found myself relaxing \u2013 I was using my body to stay afloat, but it was rhythmic and automatic, and not struggling spasms, like before. Being in the water felt good. I felt great.<\/p>\n And I moved further away from the edge. I did underwater somersaults. Backward flips, front-freewheeling balls. I was weightless, and I\u2019ve never felt freer in my life.<\/p>\n Drawing reminds me of being in the water.<\/p>\n Not only was my mind free to wander and to do backflips when I\u2019m drawing, but my hand were free as well. I draw from my shoulder, and not just my wrist \u2013 so that my movements across the paper was large and unrestrained. My entire arm and shoulder moves as I draw, just like they would if I were to float in a pool. It feels like I\u2019m in a constant state of flow.<\/p>\n When I learned how to swim, I\u2019ve found that it\u2019s easier to stay afloat if I relaxed myself and let go. I don\u2019t fight the water, I embrace it. I could feel myself melt into the invisible pores of the water, as if we are one.<\/p>\n Drawing, to me, feels very much the same.<\/p>\n Just like swimming, it took some time for me to embrace my strengths, instead of fighting against it. I\u2019ve accepted that I draw the way I do, instead of trying so hard to be a second rate version of someone else. With each stroke, it gets easier; until you feel a part of you flowing onto the paper itself.<\/p>\n When that happens, it feels like I\u2019m back in the water again.<\/p>\n And once again, I feel free.<\/p>\n =========<\/p>\n (This article ran previously, but I edited and rewrote it again. I’m going to take older articles and re-run them again in the next coming weeks to get a jump start on things. P.s. It’s good to see you again, too!)<\/em><\/p>\nImage: Caris Reid –\u00a0Lunar Water Watcher limited edition print\u00a0<\/em>(source<\/a>)<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"