I was at a family reunion last August and a cousin of mine was chatting to me about how it’s always good to keep your goals front and centre, and to always be thinking about what’s next, even if you’re resting or taking a break. I had just completed several months of home renovations, while also processing a miscarriage I’d had earlier in the year, so I was facing some fairly major burn out and depression in my life, and the pep talk from my cousin was not well received.

A little later that afternoon, I was chatting with my mum’s brother about wanting to rid myself of my life’s goals, and he said “You know you’re allowed to just exist without goals. At a certain point you say f*ck it, I’m going to enjoy my life.” 

This really struck a chord with me, and I said to him “You’ve got a point, maybe I’ll take a break from things and focus on enjoyment.” To this he replied, “Good! You should get into that state of enjoying things and then stay there as long as possible and just keep going with it. You are allowed to enjoy your life.”

I was so inspired by this conversation that I jotted down what he’d said and decided then and there to capture this moment in a little painting. My niece had also recently painted a very cool portrait of our uncle, and I decided I wanted to have a go at it as well. 

Of course after the reunion it took me a little while to actually get into enjoyment mode, to untangle myself from an overburdened schedule, and to find time in the studio to paint this portrait.

While I had immediately created the outline using a photo I’d snapped at the reunion, the actual painting was picked up and put down many times, until earlier this week when I finally completed it. I also included my favourite quote from our conversation, reminding me to enjoy my life.