This holiday season, we are all traveling back to our homes and families after a long semester. After this fall at college, you may have learned something new about yourself that you didn't know before. Maybe it was the people you were hanging around, or maybe it was the new environment or a new class you took. After this discovery, and working it out within yourself, you've decided that now is the best time to tell your parents perhaps what you've known about yourself all along -- that you are an artist.

This could be a difficult decision to have with your family, especially if they are the practical type: the kind that insist that to be successful (in a monetary way) you must go to college for your degree, and that a degree should be in some very 'useful' field that will net you a lot of money. They may think that a life based on an interest in art is exactly the opposite of everything they ever hoped for you, against everything they believe. However, you must stay firm against all the "What are you going to do with your life?"s and the "Are you sure?"s. They may try to convince you that the life of the starving artist is in your inevitable future.

What you can do in this time for yourself is a bit of self-validation. In your heart, you know what you do is beautiful and valuable and worth it. You would not have such a great pull towards something and have the urge to create art if it did not mean a lot to you, and if something means that much to you, I am sure that your own parents and mine would want that for you too.

And after all, I believe in my heart that every single person does and makes their own special kind of art. I believe that someone's "art" is whatever they find unbridled passion in. For many, their art falls under the traditional definition of painting, sculpture, or for me, photography. For some other people, their art may be found in numbers or writing. I think everyone has a form of art, and just because you decide to pursue your art against anyone else's form of art does not make your type of art any less valid.

Finally, here are some quotes by and for artists, if you need any further inspiration:

"If you're willing to do something that might not work, you're closer to becoming an artist." -- Seth Godin

"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong." -- Joseph Chilton Pearce

"A true artist is not one who is inspired, but one who inspires others." -- Salvador Dali

"Art is not a thing, it is a way." -- Elbert Hubbard

and finally, my personal favorite:

"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make more art." -- Andy Warhol