From Breast Cancer To Brushstrokes: Transforming Pain Into Power with guest Joanna Blair

We talk with internationally exhibited painter Joanna Blair about turning a breast cancer diagnosis into clarity, creative grit and work that celebrates inner beauty, resilience and new beginnings. We explore hidden keys, fear, purpose and how to guard the mind in a noisy world.

• why challenges feel hard and how mindset shapes the experience
• the shock-to-clarity moment after diagnosis
• the winding path from nursing and makeup to global art shows
• thriving beyond survival as a creative theme
• doors closing so better ones can open
• hidden keys as symbols of potential and inner guidance
• practical courage through first steps and steady focus
• curating inputs and protecting attention from algorithm noise
• purpose defined as freedom, growth and joy
• advice for young people on identity, boundaries and resilience

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Purpose
• 2:00 Meet Artist Joanna Blair
• 3:20 Why Challenges Feel So Hard
• 5:10 The Diagnosis And Instant Clarity
• 9:30 Becoming An Artist Against The Odds
• 13:40 Makeup Career To International Shows
• 17:40 Themes Of Resilience And New Doors
• 22:30 Hidden Keys And Personal Potential
• 26:00 Empowering Women Through Art
• 30:00 Fear, First Steps, And Grit
• 34:00 Guarding Your Mind And Media Diet
• 38:00 Purpose As Freedom, Growth, Joy

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

The last thing I want to do is get to the end of my life and think, oh, why didn't I do this? Well, I should have done that. I could have done this. You know, I think do it. Just do it. You know, don't be frightened to go after it.

SPEAKER_01: 0:12

I'm Adrian Starks, known as Mr. Purpose. I'm a speaker, voice narrator, comic card, and superhero fanatic, book lover, martial artist, health enthusiast, and just a fellow human seeking purpose. Join me and our guests as we navigate the chaotic journey of life of what I like to call the human mess, to discover how we can craft and share our purpose. There's no single path, but together we'll explore the diverse perspectives to uncover the tools to help you shape your purpose your way. Let's get it and let's create. Welcome back, everyone, to your purposeful life. And I'm your host, Adrian Starks, and today's episode is about embracing change, turning life's challenges into unexpected beauty and growth. And what better way to have us do this than from a special guest who is an artist herself? And her name is Joanna Blair. And Joanna is an internationally exhibited self-represented artist celebrating inner beauty and growth through exquisite figurative paintings. Her work inspires transformation and it empowers women to embrace new beginnings, realizing their inner strength and resilience. And although I'm not a woman, I still look to be inspired today by Joanna's words. Joanna, how are you doing today?

SPEAKER_00: 1:35

I'm very well, Adrian. Thank you so much for having me on your show. It's such a delight to talk to you.

SPEAKER_01: 1:40

It's such a delight to have you on the show. And let me just say, when I first found out about you and I read your bio, I was super excited because there were some things that came up. I'm like, that's my language. When you talk about purpose, you talk about challenges and transforming things. But really what inspired me truthfully is this journey that you have, which is a fascinating one of surviving breast cancer and transforming yourself into a person that also encourages others to be transformed by their challenges. And speaking of challenges, Joanna, I find that people have a hard time with challenges. Why do you think that's so?

SPEAKER_00: 2:20

I think in and of itself, um, I think I think it's mindset and I think a challenge also denotes change as well. Most people hate change. Um and I I think that in itself creates that challenge of everything's shifting and nothing is the way it was before, or looking like it won't be, and that unfamiliarity and that unknown of what lies ahead. Um so I I think I think that's a big part of it, why people struggle with challenge. Um yeah, and I I just feel that it really will, yeah, it does test you, test your resilience and um and if you're if you're sort of a pessimistic person, it will really bring up a lot of, oh my god, you just see the worst of everything that could um play out rather than looking at okay, actually this might lead to something a lot better than what I ever had before. Um, but I think in and of itself, it's just that there's change happening and w I have no idea what's going to come out the other side of it.

SPEAKER_01: 3:22

That's so right. And I like that because I was just going to ask you about that. It's a change. You know, if you think about the word challenge, change is inside of that word.

SPEAKER_00: 3:30

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 3:31

And this idea of a challenge happening for a lot of people, including myself, I've been through this and I still go through it. This unexpected change of something that comes at you from left field in life and you're not expecting it. So therefore, you it puts you into a level of discomfort. You know, when you talk about the change that people are uncomfortable with, I want to talk about what discomforts you had. Because when you experience something that you've experienced, what did it do to you starting out? Like when you first discovered that you had it or it was revealed to you, how did that alter your life or the way that you saw things?

SPEAKER_00: 4:11

Yeah, I mean, it was a real shock. I didn't expect it. Um, but honestly, it gave me full clarity. I remember when I got the diagnosis and I was walking back to the car. I hadn't rung anyone yet to let anyone know um what had just happened. And by the time I got back to the car, I was already like, right, that's it. I'm gonna stop doing this, I'm gonna start doing that, and I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that, da da da da da da. And all these things that I've been dragging my feet on just suddenly, it was like it was like my runway, the debris on my runway had just instantly been cleared. Like my windscreen had instantly been cleared, and suddenly I could just see what I needed to do, what I wanted to do. And I think, especially at that point when I didn't really know what they were going to do treatment-wise or how bad this actually was or anything like that, they just literally said, Oh, it is breast cancer, and it was the real start of it. So it just really straightened my back, to be honest, Adrian, and just made me think, okay, what what do you really want to do with yourself? What do you what am I doing that I don't like doing, that I've been, you know, like I was saying, dragging my feet over and it it instantly sorted that out.

SPEAKER_01: 5:21

Yeah, this I couldn't even imagine like being faced with something like that and and not just going into a a tailspin of just like, you know, what's gonna happen next? What do I do? Where do I go from here? Is everything I'm doing now going to stop? And I think a lot of people have felt like that. And I think it's so inspiring that yourself knowing that, okay, this is happening, how do I move through this as opposed to moving away from it, or like what some people would do, just shut down from it, because it's a natural inclination for people to want to just hide from something that they can't control right away or they don't have a solution to. Speaking of that, of the journey of things, I want to talk about your journey as an artist and how you got started. I always find artists very intriguing. I mean, and being a painter and doing these wonderful things, I'm just like, oh, how did you start? Was that something you learned? Like you started when you were a child, or when did it when did it develop?

SPEAKER_00: 6:22

Yeah, it's funny, Adrian. I can actually remember the day, like the very day that I realized I wanted to be an artist. And I was really young, I was five, and um I was on holidays with my parents, and we were coming up off the beach, and I was with dad, and this man, um, oh, he would have been in his 60s, and he had two girls, probably about 12 years old, that he was teaching to paint. They were painting a sunset. And I remember being really intrigued, and we stopped to talk to him, and in the end, dad's dragging me away, you know, like leave the man alone. Um, and I just remember thinking, I just really want to do that. And from there, it just sort of as a kid, I think my parents probably ignored it because most kids love art and didn't realise how serious I was about it. And by 12 years old, I applied for art school without telling my parents and got accepted. And um then they found out the school found out how old I was only 12, so that was the end of that. I was too young. And then it was just sort of this I think because you know, your parents want the best for you, and school teachers and things like that are like, yeah, yeah, yeah, but you really need to get a qualification and you really need to get a proper job. Um, so I kind of was steered in and around it. I still kept painting, but um it started to go on and off. And then in my twenties I got right back into it again and was full on with it. And by then I was nursing actually. Um I qualified as a nurse, and I remember just sitting on night shift one night at work thinking, My God, there has to be something better than this, you know. I'm just so overnursing and still looking for that avenue and still didn't have the self-belief. That's a big thing as well, I've realized, of not believing that I could actually do anything with the art, you know, because my mum was always sort of, oh, just paint because you feel like it. And you know, if you do that, nothing's gonna happen. You you've got to really, if you're gonna get serious, you have to be really serious. And I ended up going down the road of um makeup. I was at home one night watching the Oscars, and the makeup category came on, and I had that aha moment, and I thought, right, I'm gonna do that. Just kind of looking, not because I loved makeup. I've never outside of just wanting to do your own face well, but outside of that, um, it was because I was just still looking for that creative avenue that I could earn a living from and do something that I really love to do. Um, so uh I went down the whole thing of makeup. I ended up training with a guy, Peter Frampton, who won the Oscar for um Mel Gibson's film Braveheart.

SPEAKER_01: 8:46

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00: 8:47

Yes, I was really lucky, Adrian. I was with him for several months, being personally trained by him and um did feature film fashion, Brazilian weddings and things like that. But there was still that thing of the painting. Um, and and then just out of the blue in 2015, 2014, I got contacted by London. I don't even know how. I actually thought it was an email. I actually thought it was spam. I nearly deleted it, and then something made me take a second look at it, and um they were asking for five of my paintings for consideration uh for the Biennale. So to most of my and it was five paintings. I remember I did four, and the fifth one I was really struggling with, and I was, you know, you just look at something, I thought, oh, it's really bad. I can't send that. Should I just send four? And even though they're wanting five, and and then in the end I thought, just sign it. It's okay, just sign it. Come what may let just do that. And um, sure enough, that fifth one that I really struggled with was the one they chose to go in the Biennale, and um off it went from there. So after that, I ended up doing four international shows a year from being in the Biennale.

SPEAKER_01: 9:55

It's so interesting the serendipity of things, how things just unfold and you're like, wait a minute, though, things are connecting here, and I love that. And speaking of your collections, your your paintings, there's a couple that I want to talk about, such as the boldness of resilience and when one door closes, another one opens. Love that. They both explore the theme of transformation and growth. What inspired these power these powerful narratives with these paintings?

SPEAKER_00: 10:25

Yeah, it's interesting. The boldness of resilience, I was already that's sort of about that was about thriving, not just surviving, but thriving. And when I got my diagnosis last year, I was well into painting that series. And I just thought when I when the diagnosis happened, I thought, oh my goodness, I must have known something subconsciously because that's really what I was painting of you know, um, going through something, surviving it, and then thriving it at the other side of it. And um, so I think that was more of a subconscious thing. But then with one door closes, another one opens, I'm I really love that thing where the same thing again. Um something comes at you left a field, you didn't expect it, it's really awful. And when you're going through it, it's really awful. You just can't believe it's happened and you're dealing with all of that. And then when you come out the other side of it and you're down the track a bit, and you've got the ability of hindsight or the benefit of hindsight, and you look back and you're actually in a much better place. Something else happened, a door opened that wouldn't have opened if that first door hadn't have closed. Um, and I I've seen it happen with other people. One of my friends, she she was engaged to be married, they already had um they had two children, very young. The second one was only a couple of months old, and the fiance comes home and says, I don't love you anymore, I'm leaving. So, of course, yeah, exactly. Devastation, awfulness, all of that sort of stuff. And but within 18 months of that happening, she actually met the most fantastic man, she's happier than she's ever been in her whole life. Um getting married. And I just thought if he hadn't have done that, if he hadn't if if her fiance hadn't have left, she wouldn't be where she is now. You know, I think with the fianc with the original fiance kind of going through the motions a bit and the kids and all that kind of stuff, and just that classic moment of one door closing and then something else opening, almost like the universe is disassembling the old to allow in the new. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 12:28

That is right. The this whole thing of the one door closing, another door opening, I can definitely agree with that. There's been so many doors in my life that have closed, Joanna, and I'm thinking to myself, like, let me in, please let me in, just trying to pull the door open. And the universe is like, nope, not going through that door. I got another one over here for you. But I'm like, but it requires effort to like open that one. Can you just keep this one open right here? And I love the idea of these paintings that you have, particularly these two that give this powerful universal message to the human being in transformation and growth. Speaking of that transformation and growth, you know, you weave these hidden keys into your paintings, which I love. And they're symbols of new beginnings and self-discovery. My question that I've had for myself over the years is what symbols am I missing in my life? What symbols am I not paying attention to? What do the keys that you have in your paintings, what do they represent? And how do they invite viewers to reflect on their own personal journeys?

SPEAKER_00: 13:38

Yeah, I think with the hidden keys, I think like they can to me they have several meanings. Sometimes just that inner voice that you keep ignoring, um, that's really trying to say to you, come over here, come over here. This is over here, you will love what's over here. Come over here. Stop doing that stupid thing you're doing or that thing you keep making yourself do. Um, when that inner voice is really trying hard to grab your attention. Um But I also think within a with the keys, I love the idea of unlocking your potential. I like that one too. Yeah, that thing of really finding out what is it that you it's surprising. I feel like you're kind of born into these bodies, and then you've got to spend your life finding what is it that's in me, because you don't know until and I think challenges will test that and actually show you what you're actually made of and what is in you that you didn't know you had. And for me, that key is just unlocking that, you know, just finding it, listening to it, and and then kind of unleashing it, letting it out. And um, yeah, so I like to hide them in the painting because you really got to look for them. And I find that's how it is in life as well. Sometimes you've got to really really get quiet and just really tune out the noise, tune out all the what-ifs and the what happens and this and that, and just think, okay, what do I really want? What what really resonates with me? And yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 15:04

I love the idea of symbols, and these symbols that you have throughout your paintings are obviously transforming lives. Reminds me when I went to Florence, Italy. I think it was about maybe six, six years ago now, and I witnessed some of the most life-changing paintings in the world, just standing next to them and just looking at them and thinking of this story of like, I wonder what the artist was thinking when he were doing this. What were they going through? What was their thought process? And in the meantime, I'm thinking about my thought process of what it means to me. And I walk away with a whole nother experience. And I've been changed by this painting that I've been looking at for about 20 minutes. And when you talk about changing and transforming lives, you are indeed, Joanna, revealing a story to a person. And they're reading this story, and then this story they're learning about themselves. And I, and this journey that you've been through, this personal challenge, is pulling out more of a story of human transformation and and human evolution. Now, your work empowers women, which I love, and you embrace them to take on their inner strength and resilience. How do you hope that your art impacts those who view it going forward?

SPEAKER_00: 16:21

I think exactly what you just said, Adrian, I hope that it reminds women or anyone really, but um my paintings are very feminine, so I would imagine they mostly resonate with women, but just to remind women that there's so much more to you than what you may think, and to not be afraid to go after what you truly want and not to be afraid to be who you truly are. Um, you know, time goes by so quickly, and I think particularly women, you know, there's a there's a lot going on, you know, in the the kids, the house, the job, uh everything day-to-day and all that kind of stuff. And I think just that I hope it's inspiring and uplifting of just a reminder that, you know, there's so much depth to you and so much beauty in so many ways to you, and that you might not have even realized. And, you know, don't be frightened to explore that and to really and have the courage. You know, don't you the last thing I want to do is get to the end of my life and think, oh, why didn't I do this? Well, I should have done that, I could have done this. You know, I think do it, just do it. You know, don't don't be frightened to to go after it.

SPEAKER_01: 17:31

I love that. Just do it. And you talk about courage, and I and I learned this, I forgot who this quote came from. I love my quote. It was courage is not the absence of fear, is what you do in the presence of fear. And I think that that's what a lot of people forget is that everyone has courage, but it's the action through that moment that brings out that hero inside of you, that screaming artist. And there's a lot of women, like you were mentioning, I mean, women across the globe that are, I feel, are not being heard for their art, whatever that art may be, because they think they have to have a certain image or they have to put on this particular mask of like, I have it together, I can't let anyone see anything different. I have to do this, I have a family, I have this. And it's so encouraging to see people like yourself that you have these things, but you're still showing the women, you're showing people that there's still more to do. There's a lot more to do. And I want to go back to what I discovered when I was in Italy. So, Michelangelo, um, there was a thing that he did with all of his paintings as well as his sculptures. What he did was he left the top part of the piece not done. Like so, there was something that was missing, something that he didn't smooth out. And he did that on purpose because he wanted people to see that there's more work to do and that there you're never complete, you're never finished with yourself. You know, there's always that transformation. And you remind me of that talking to you, this energetic exchange of of transformation. Joanna, how has embracing change and transformation influenced not only your art but your life's philosophy?

SPEAKER_00: 19:26

Yeah, I agree with you. It um it's never done. It's true. I think you you're always there's always more to do, and I think um feel the fear and do it anyway as well. Because yeah, I I think yeah, my life's philosophy is really changed of just I guess for me, because I really want to experience as much as I can during my lifetime and achieve as much as I can. I really want to see what am I made of? Like how much grit have you got? How much gumption? What are you capable of? Um, so I suppose for me I can get fearful over tiny little things. The fear is the same, that's what I've realized. That like the fear level is the same, whether it's a tiny little thing that you're freaking out over, or if you're gonna freak out over something, freak out over something that's really big. At least you've got a big payoff at the other end of it, you know? And I just think, yeah, don't be frightened. You so many times, and it comes down to that change thing again of where you just think, oh my god, what is this? Or this is unfamiliar territory. I don't, I'm, I don't know what's going on here, or and and then when you just calm down, you think, okay, what's the first thing that I need to do? What's the first step? Right, that it's this. Okay, do that. Okay, now it's the next step, right? Done that, and just keep going before you know it, you're coming out the other side of it, and it actually wasn't as hard as you thought it was. A little bit I love the movie The Wizard of Oz for this reason because you know, this whole idea of Oz and this powerful, all-knowing, unbelievably amazing man, and then it's just this little guy with a loud speaker behind a curtain in the end. And I think so often challenges are actually that just a little guy behind a curtain with a loud speaker when it's all said and done. Um, so I think for me, I just think don't be frightened. Like, well, and if you are, just calm down, clear the noise, and just think, okay, what's the first thing I gotta do here? And and just move forward. And and I think I say to my, I don't have any children myself, but my nieces and nephews, I say to them, have periscope vision. Like look up and above into the future of where you are. Don't look at the mess you're in now. Look at eyes forward. Where is it you want to go? Like as though you had a periscope and could see well down the track. Keep your eyes there. Don't keep grounded in this mess, and because you're just gonna go round and round and spin your wheels. You'll never move forward if your mindset is just on and on and on about the problem. Okay, what's the solution? What's the outcome I want? Where do I want to head? So I guess for me, the older I get, the more um, the more that philosophy is really ingrained in me now. And just think, no, come on. You can have lemons or lemonade, it's a choice. It's a choice. You know, you can either stay stuck in in whatever and carry on about it forever and a day, or you can start thinking, all right, this is this, this is awful, I don't like it. But how do I want to get out of this? Yeah, what I where I where do I want to be in the long run?

SPEAKER_01: 22:22

I like how you said it's a choice. And it really is at the end of the day. It's a choice that that I think a lot of us we know it's a choice, but it's so hard to make that choice. It's so scary. And this idea of failing. What happens if I don't? What happens if this doesn't go through? What happens if everyone tells me, hey, see, I told you. It's I've had those feelings before, and it's really inspiring to hear it come from someone such as yourself because you also had a choice. You could have said, Done. This is it for me. I'm I don't want to do anything else. I'm just, you know, why me, why me, why me? But instead, you took your pain and you turned it into your personal power, which I think is a superpower all on its own. And that to me is what I feel is is art itself. And I I'm gonna tell you something, Joanna. I the word art, I was thinking about this when I was getting ready to interview, and I was like, I gotta come up with some clever words here because Joanna, she's gonna be all over this art thing, and I need to figure out get my art conversation together. But I was thinking about the word art, and I love acronyms, ART. I'm thinking art, art, art. And it hit me all of a sudden applying real truth, applying real truth, your truth, to what you're wanting to express. And you're speaking a truth, a truth of human transformation. And I want to ask you, Joanna, what would you like to tell? I know that you inspire women, and that's great. I love that. But I also have this feeling too that our younger generation of women, younger people, are struggling right now. They are so struggling of finding personal identity, social media, the likes, the comments. Am I good enough? Am I not good enough? What advice would you want to give to that that younger person, that younger Joanna that's sitting next to you?

SPEAKER_00: 24:27

Yeah, you're you're so right. With the young ones, there's a lot of information coming from all angles. Um I would say be careful, be careful of who you listen to. And um, yeah, what would I say? I would say you've kind of really got to protect your your boundaries, I guess. And well, like with social media, for example, the algorithm will feed off what you keep looking at. So I'm super disciplined with what I'll look at because I know if I look at something stupid or something awful, it's just gonna feed me so much of that. And and I think it's easy to um think that that's how the world is and all of that kind of stuff. And and it's interesting, even when I think back, I mean, when I was in high school, there was no social media or anything, and bullying and all of that was present then. It's just then when you get older and you look back and you realize a lot of the time that comes from people seeing in you what they don't see in themselves. And you realize it, and to me, it's almost a compliment. Actually, when I look back at it, I think, God, it's actually a compliment because that's why they're trying to tear you down, because they're seeing the potential or the talent or whatever it is. So I I think there's that, and I I think, yeah, just really protect who you're around, like negative people can really drag you down where you just get into these conversations that are just spiraling down, and and I think the world actually isn't like that. This is the reason why I won't watch the news or anything like that. I mean, it they never report anything good, and there's so much good. I think if you could zoom out, if you had the ability to zoom out from earth and just look at how much good there is and how many wonderful things happen, even just simple little things that just never get attention because we're so bombarded with these images, and yeah, I I don't know. I think it's I think it'd be that like protect what you're looking at, protect who you're speaking to. If someone's spewing out negativity, just get away, don't spend time with people like that and be careful what you look at on social media. And like my social media now, I mean, it's all I love gardening, so lots of gardening, cooking, art stuff, or just stuff that I find beautiful. Um, it just makes such a difference. My partner watches a lot of the news, it drives me insane how he does that. His outlook, his general, oh my god, the world's ending. I think for God's sake, watching the news.

SPEAKER_01: 26:50

Don't tell me that. Don't don't don't put that in my head. Don't tell me. So stupid, Adrian.

SPEAKER_00: 26:55

Yeah, but you're right, with body image and all of that kind of stuff. And yeah, I mean, I mean, how can you can't tell kids to get off social media, that's never gonna work, they're always gonna be on it. But um, I think it's it's that thing of just really protect what you're looking at and don't hesitate to block things. The minute something comes up that I don't like, I'm instant instantly block it because I don't want to see it again. I don't want to hear that, or yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 27:18

I like that. Protect what you're looking at. And it's it's so true. I there was something that I read about speaking of beauty and art, um, the thorns of a rose. And there was this passage that I read it from some article about the rose is beautiful and the thorn knows it. And the thorn will do everything to protect its inner beauty, the rose. And I was like, how amazing is that? And I thought about it and I was like, wait a minute, you know, our our inner beauty, this part of us, this innocence, this creative aspect of us, which is the true self, I believe, has to be protected by our own thorns, which is the mind. And the reason why I asked you about the young generation was because it's so important for them to see that there's people like yourself that exist out there when they're being shown just the opposite. They're being shown a quick and easy way to get things done, quick and easy way to get their their art out there, the quick and easy way to get people to to like their works. And and to see someone who has managed to go through one of the greatest challenges a spirit can go through, a body can go through, and you're still creating this beauty from that is to me the best inspiration that that anything could could show on on television. I like what you were talking about the news because I too myself try to block myself from it. And what I find, Joanna, is that when I'm online, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna go online right quick. I gotta do a couple of things. Oh, what is this? What is happening here? And then I click on something. Oh, that's happening. And you find yourself in five to 20 minutes down this rabbit hole of like chaos, and then I have completely forgot what I got on the computer to do in the first place. Now my brain has all this data of like, this is happening, and nothing I can resolve. Nothing I can resolve, but my brain is full of information. And I like how you said that we have to protect what we look at because everything now is about just looking at things and and this influx of information. And it's too much information that our minds can do. And I just I love the fact that you're stepping up and saying for women, for people to embrace themselves, embrace their inner beauty, to embrace challenges. And I always have this question that I like to end our conversation with. And with everything said and done, Joanna, your journey, your battling breast cancer, you're getting these opportunities, this serendipity that we talked about earlier of things just doors opening for you that you were like, whoa. Oh, and these things happening to building resilience for women and helping them see that there's a a part of themselves that they don't see. What does living a purposeful life look like to you?

SPEAKER_00: 30:12

Yeah, that's a that's a really great question. For me, a purposeful life is really having the courage, having the courage to really be true to yourself. When I think of my younger self and you know, you conforming and you you're kind of doing um doing what you're told, doing what's expected. And you really even young ones all the time because I think one of my friends, their their son, he was on, I don't know, he was 10, and he was just fascinated, just loved building Lego. He was building these amazing things with Lego, like these huge ships and buildings and all that, and they're like, you've got to stop that, you know, he needs to do this and he needs. And I'm thinking he's showing you right there what he wants to do, you know, he wants to build things that he he could do it till he's blue in the face, but he's being discouraged from it. And you know, and I think it's so sad because when if you think about what you loved doing at around about 10, 12 years old, that's probably what you should be doing in your life. That thing that you could do, whether you've paid for it or not, where you lose track of time, you wake up in the morning and you just think, I just want to get at whatever it is that you're doing. And so often pe kids are steered away from that, it's kind of knocked out of you a little bit, that true essence of you. And and I think for me, that's your purpose. And I sort of think your purpose in life is kind of three things. It's just freedom, growth, and joy. That's it. That's really what you're here for, and those things will change over your life. Something that gives you joy when you're 20 might not do it at 30. And then you start thinking, that's what happened with me. And then you start thinking, okay, what what is it that I really love doing? Where do I and I just think that's your purpose? It it will change as time goes on, but don't be frightened to change, go with it. Don't listen to anyone else. If you fail at it the first few times, that's fine. When I think of somebody like J.K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter, you know, there's various reports she was knocked back 12 times to 25 times by publishers. And I just look at her and I think when she was just a single mum, earning just her nine to five job with a with a young daughter, and she probably and loved writing and had this idea of Harry Potter, and everyone was knocking her back, saying, No, we're not interested. And I'm sure her friends would have said to her, Listen, just write because you feel like it, don't worry about it. She could never have imagined what lay ahead for her, but to just keep on going, and I I think that's that's the thing. Like, just keep going. If you really love it, you know, just because you fail a couple of times, get back up. Okay, you just found another way of how not to do it. Okay, how else can I go at this? Just keep going, you know.

SPEAKER_01: 32:52

I love that.

SPEAKER_00: 32:53

Yeah. So for me, I think that's it. That's your purpose in life. To find what it is that makes your heart sing, and then find a way of making that your income. And and that way you'll love your life. You'll never be those times where it's Sunday night and think, oh my god, it's Monday tomorrow. I've got a whole week before I've got days off again. It's such a horrible way to live your life.

SPEAKER_01: 33:13

It it is, and I love how you said freedom, growth, and joy. Those really just they started ringing in my head here. And I thought about freedom and what that means to people. And you just mentioned like the doing something that you don't want to do, going to work. You know, obviously, people, you know, we we all know we have to pay bills, things have to get paid. And and that's understandable, but it doesn't mean that, as you mentioned, that we still can't have joy. And I think a lot of us forget that I have forgotten that. I've gotten wrapped up in the idea of, okay, this first, and then my joy comes on the back end of things. And then I find myself getting to this point where I lost my purpose, where I'm like, okay, now I'm just running around in circles here. I'm not growing, I'm feeling like I'm stagnant, I'm feeling I'm closed in. And this is all part of the not having freedom to, as you would say, uh have imagination to believe, to just go out and do the thing. You talked about courage a lot today, which I love because courage is something that we think that you have to be running through some big building that's that's going falling down and saving someone, but courage comes in so many small sound bites. And when we can exercise that courage, and those small sound bites, they they lead into bigger things, bigger conversations with ourselves, and and as in your words, art, transformation of oneself. And I oh, I you know, I was gonna bring this up earlier when I thought about this. Have you by chance read the book by Dorian Gray? No, hold on, by Oscar Wilde, sorry, called Picture of Dorian Gray.

SPEAKER_00: 34:57

I haven't. I must read it though, because yeah, go on. I I know basically the story of it, but do tell me.

SPEAKER_01: 35:03

Yeah, the so I I don't want to spoil anything for you, no, but the premises of the story is about a person who sees themselves a certain way, and they think that that's the way the world sees them or people see them. And reality is it's not. And there's a painting that's created, and this painting says the truth about the person, and the person doesn't like it. That's all I'm gonna tell you about. But there's so much other suspense going on in the book, and it just reminded me about when you were saying how art is transformative, and when you look at something, it transforms you. And I want people to be transformed by you, Joanna. How can they get in touch with you? How can they find out more about your work and your next projects coming up?

SPEAKER_00: 35:53

Thank you, Adrian. Um, yeah, no, probably Instagram is the best way, uh, Joanna Blair Artist on Instagram. Um, my website, my email list is um really where I sort of give all the behind the scenes and um I'm really value my email list. So that's on my um website, Joanna Blair Artist.com. And if anyone signs up to that, my email list gets my monthly journal and they get access to my work because I only release in four-day windows, so I only do three releases a year. Um, and then outside of that, those those windows, nothing is available. So my email list has 24-hour early access before the public and access to originals that the public don't have access to and all that sort of thing. So, yeah, that'd be the best places to find me.

SPEAKER_01: 36:41

Your great work. Thank you, Joanne, for being on the show today.

SPEAKER_00: 36:46

Oh, thank you so much for having me, Adrian. It's been my absolute pleasure just to chat with you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01: 36:50

Thank you for listening to Your Purposeful Life, and I'm your host, Adrian Starks. Download this podcast on your platform of choice. Join me on my social media channels and be a part of the Your Purposeful Life community. Subscribe to the YouTube channel and hit that like button with a purpose. Come on now. Remember, your human mess is the process. Let's help you shape your purpose your way.