The Great Reset

Sometimes, you just have to blow up your universe and start over. I reached this point at the start of the pandemic in 2020. Like so many other people, living in a society that was closed for business allowed me time to breath, focus, and reevaluate what I wanted the next phase of my life to look like. I was tired of the status quo, stressed beyond belief from work, and probably on the verge of mental collapse. I was also grateful for it all; I had a very stable life in terms of working for rock solid employer with a career path laid out for me, a home halfway paid off and very affordable mortgage, all staged in a perfectly average small city in East Tennessee. But like most human beings, I became restless and a bit burned out. Over the years, my life had devolved into a work-sleep-eat-shit-shower routine as I chased what I thought was a path to happiness. Yet, no matter how hard I worked and strived toward the cookie-cutter suburban life, I became more and more anxious. “What does it all mean?” I regularly asked myself. “Why am I doing all this?” I had long sense abandoned exercise, most social life, and my sporadic relationship with creating art. I needed change; not just change, but a jolt of life. I had considered for a while the prospect of moving out of my nice and comfy condo and upgrading to a house with land and figured the pandemic was a good time to do so because every realtor I talked to was expecting the housing market to take a major dip. So I sold it and moved to an apartment temporarily.

I know what this sounds like, but trust me, this is not a Hallmark movie and I am definitely NOT one of those whimsical people who believes in recklessly abandoning my life and jumping to whatever shiny things feels good. Nope. I’m typically a very grounded, analytical, methodical person. Before I do anything too impulsive, I first overthink it, plan. prepare, build a spreadsheet, calculate, reconsider, overthink some more, and then conclude that the status quo is the most sensible course of action. However, once I do decide to make major changes, I have to force the issue by making a decision that pushes me beyond the point of no return so that I don’t back out. In this case, I turned in my notice at my job and, in January of 2021, finished my last day after 18 years at the same corporation.

Now what? I wasn’t sure. I just knew that the job was the only thing holding me in that city and, without that, there was no particular reason to stay there unless I really just wanted to. I didn’t, so I made a short list of cities that I’d consider moving to and then did process of elimination. I hate cold, so anything further north was out of the question. I love New Orleans, but it’s dangerous and there isn’t much industry there, mostly service jobs. Also, Hurricanes and flooding sucks. Savannah is dope and has a thriving art scene, but it’s smaller than Knoxville and I definitely wanted something bigger. Atlanta is cool, but it’s also crazy, already full, and the traffic is insane. It came down to Nashville or Charlotte. I had lived in Nashville for a couple of years after college; great city, and two of my siblings and their families live there… but ultimately, I decided I wanted something new. So I settled on Charlotte, which I knew nothing about.

My story begins like that of many artists. I’ve always been an artist, self taught and some formal education. But life tends to do what it does and my art was suppresed while I pursued a career in management. That was until the height of the global pandemic in 2020. Like many people, I found the greatest silver lining of the econpomy shutting down was having the time to reflect and evaluate my life. I spent the first half of my life getting an education, working on my career, and establishing my independence as a person, but in the process, my art had fallen off the radar.

In march of that year, just as businesses and social establishments shut down, I sold my home and began to put away money. I wasn’t sure what my next move would be, but I knew I wanted make major changes and that I wanted art to be a big part of my priorities. . At the end of that year, during the height of the pandemic, I put in my notice and left my job of 18 years. It had been a rewarding career for sure and I still miss some of the amazing people I worked with, but I felt the need to move on. Maybe it was stagnation, a mid-life crisis, or the silver lining of the pandemic, but it occurred to me that with the elimination of the job, there was no particular reason why my future should require me to remain in Tennessee. So at the start of 2021, I started looking at other cities.

I knew I wanted to move somewhere bigger, more diverse, and fuill of cultural and economic growth… but not too big, expensive overwhelming. I also hate the cold, so moving north was out of the question. After considering 4 or 5 southern cities, I decided to move to Charlotte. No, I;d never been before, didn’t have a job, didn’t know anyone there, and understood that it was still very much shut down during the pandemic. HOwever, that didn’t stop me from driving down and exploring the city for a couple of weeks. Buy the end of the 2nd week, I had secured an apartment. In March, I moved permanently.

Charlotte is gallery and studio are based in Charlotte and located in the heart of Downtown ant the VAPA center.

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.