The Right To Create

Jade: What if some people just aren’t meant to create?
Echo: That’s what they want you to think. And by “they,” I mean the people who gave up.

There are people who are born in the right place. Their art is nurtured, celebrated, encouraged. They grow up with family members who display their drawings on the fridge, who clap when they dance, who say things like: “You have a gift! You should follow it !”

And then there are the rest of us.

The ones who had to fight for every second of creative time. The ones who heard, “Art is a nice hobby, but what’s your real plan?” The ones who had to justify why we wanted to spend money on paint, on instruments, on cameras, on notebooks filled with unfinished ideas, on anything that made creation possible, instead of something “useful.” The ones who were told, over and over, that our art wasn’t a priority, that we should be doing something else, that we were selfish for wanting this, that it was childish, immature, impractical.

Maybe you’re still hearing it.

Maybe every time you pick up a brush, a pen, a guitar, a microphone, you hear their voices in your head. Maybe you feel guilty for spending time on something that isn’t “productive.” Maybe you think that if you were “meant to be an artist,” it would have been easier.

Well, screw that.

This book is not for the lucky ones. It’s not for people who have been told since childhood that their creativity is a blessing.

This is for the fighters. The ones who had to steal time for their art. The ones who feel like impostors because they don’t have validation from the world around them. The ones who wonder, “Do I even have the right to do this?”

The answer is: YES, YOU ABSOLUTELY DO.

Creating is not a luxury. It’s not something you have to earn. You don’t need permission. You don’t need validation. You don’t need to prove to anyone that your art is important.

If it matters to you, it matters. Period.

Jade & Echo: Unapologetic Artist is your permission slip. It’s your battle cry. It’s your rebellion.

Now go make some damn art.

Anti-Exercise 1: The Artist’s Permission Slip

✔ Grab a piece of paper. Any paper.
✔ Write: “I, (your name), am an artist. I don’t need permission to create.”
✔ Sign it. Date it. Keep it. Pin it to your wall.
✔ Every time you doubt yourself, read it again.

Because your art belongs here. And so do you.