I was overworked and completely burnt out from the 9-5 grind we all know so well. This grind for me though had turned  into 60+ hours a week filled with stress, anxiety, and a spillover of negative emotions that consumed the hours I wasn't working.

My mental and physical health were suffering. I looked at the rest of my life and realized this was not what I wanted. 

Quitting a job and career I had worked so passionately towards for over a decade was shattering. It was a huge part of my identity and the shift in figuring out who I was outside of that is still something I am figuring out. 

Going from that amount of stress, long hours, and consistent productivity to nothing was the most uncomfortable thing I have ever done. No structure, no deadlines, no billable hours or someone to report to. Our bodies and minds do what we know. I was so wound up I literally didn’t know how to rest.

My whole life I had been conditioned to produce in some way. Since kindergarten you have homework. It’s not the same as a job but it is the societal norm that I was so wrapped up in: that my worth was equated to productivity, to a paycheck, to efficiency, to some metric to measure and perform.

Therapy, journaling, naps, art, crying, being in nature, and going back to the moment were important components of this period of time in which this collection was produced. By going back to the moment I mean noticing and feeling. Noticing the way the light was shining through the blinds in that particular moment, the cracks in the sidewalk meandering their way through the block, and each bump or arch in a the botanical forms I was studying and drawing.