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Joyce Chou's avatar

Happy belated birthday, Angie! Thank you for sharing your fears around creating—they're so relatable. I also struggle with wanting to create something amazing, but finding excuses not to. It's like a self-defense mechanism to avoid failure. But it's exactly as you said: "I not only need to accept that shitty creations are necessary steps toward creating something great, but I also need to redefine what great means to me."

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Michelle Elisabeth Varghese's avatar

Happy Birthday Angie!!

I’m not going to lie, I thought we were the same age or possibly I was significantly older than you. On one hand, I do want to remind you that you created a whole human this year and anything you do on top of that is icing on the cake. Having and raising a baby is no easy task! But I also deeply relate to the feeling of guilt that comes from not creating when you feel like you could’ve. It hits extra hard for me right now because I can relate. Self compassion is so important though. We really only have so much time and energy and you’ve been mom-ing, moving and still creating art. I always love seeing your painted pieces and reading your essays. The memoirs will come too. There’s resistance and there’s also an appreciation that sometimes resistance is a part of the process, not something we can just skip.

I love the scenes of your birthdays! My bday is a holiday so I relate to missing out on the school celebrations. It’s so lovely you have a new birthday tradition you’re sharing with your daughter!

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