Inevitably when we show our artwork to others, sometimes harsh words come out letting us slink into our holes a little more…Today we will use one of Ben Franklin’s 13 highly effective habits to show us how to move past the immediate wounding and help the healing begin.

In an effort to be healthy, we are launching a Disciple Deep Biggest Loser weigh-in. This post will interweave a lot of healing advice in your narrative art comic book career both physically, and emotionally.

If you want to follow along on the Disciple Deep Biggest Loser program, you can. Here is the weigh-in dates…

March 13th, 2012 INITIAL WEIGH-IN
April 17th, 2012 — 2nd weigh in
May 15th, 2012 –3rd weigh in
June 12th, 2012 — 4th weigh in
July 10th, 2012 — FINAL WEIGH IN

If you have been thinking about wanting to get in shape, follow along with me on this journey. If you want to get into the competition with me, we are taking money and the winner will get it all…

I am going to be working with some of my family members to help this time around. Plus, I am going to try to shrink a little more. I’ll figure out some way to keep you informed of my progress on this site, without being too bothersome for those that don’t need to lose weight.

STAYING ACTIVE IN 2012

One of the things I’ve found is that, if you don’t need to lose weight, you still need to stay active…especially while in the art field. If you don’t keep moving, it is very easy to start gaining unnecessary pounds. But the biggest reason why it is important to keep moving is because, it gives us more energy and activates our brains, so we can learn how to create quicker and more accurate. Plus, it engages our mental capacity to have more ideas than we thought possible, and it helps us solves problems that we may be experiencing with our artwork or if we get stuck writing a story.

In getting healthier, we are looking this week at Ben Franklin’s guide to health and wellness in this section of his 13 principles. Ironically enough, you may not think this this topic has anything to do with health and wellness.

Moderation: Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

AVOID EXTREMES

Ben Franklin must have been a fairly moderate individual because, as a creator, I am prone to have every bit of extreme known to man. This one is tough for me to deal with. I have a lot of moderate friends, who are even-paced. But for me, I am going super-fast or going super slow.

This affects my work, my relationships, my emotions. Another artist friend of mine said he deals with the same things. I wonder if it a trait required of artists. I get super sad when I’m sad. I get super excited when I talk of my passions.

I only know this way. I only know to give everything I’ve got into a project, which comes with a huge amount of rejection when things don’t go well. I think Mr. Franklin’s advice is well received–especially when it comes to dealing with others–and buyers of your work.

People like that you don’t go crazy when the slightest thing sets you off.

On the health side of things…I’ve learned not to eat too much…not to exercise too much…

I do think EXTREME has its place…particularly when getting out of a rut. Sometimes you have to give it ALL YOU’VE GOT to change things that you don’t want in your life. But after that inital start, if you don’t tame it back to some logical implementation of an easier plan, you will inevitably wear yourself out.

FOREBEAR RESENTING INJURIES

I chose this topic to be in health and wellness, in part because I have an injury in one of the tendons in my knee. It just started hurting one day and now I can’t run. If you know me at all, I run all the time and this has been debilitating the last several months.

I started a couple new exercises though to make up for the fact that I can’t run. SPEEDWALKING, and AB WORKOUTS. If I end up learning to swim and bicycle effectively, I could try to get in one of those Iron Man competition triathalons–Escape from Alcatraz! That would be fun!

I’ve given my knee a lot of attention to make sure I don’t hurt more, and help it to heal. It really hurt to walk on it. Trying to be like Ben Franklin, I probably won’t think about too much anymore. I’ll just do what I know works now, to help it mend. I’ve already spent $150 on a doctor to tell me to do what I already know to do, and they want me to go to physical therapy. I’m sure I want to give it that much attention.

So let’s see, how does this apply to the artistic, creative community. What happens when you get your work critiqued and no one likes what you did? That to me is an injury to our esteem. You can take it around with you for the rest of your life being upset that a few people think your creations stink…or you can forebear resenting that injury, and move on with your life.

Create products for people you know will like them.

You won’t be happy, and you won’t be able to create any more good artwork if you just keep dwelling on that past. Accept that you failed to connect with them and go on creating something that you will be able to connect with people on.