Gingerbread House

Today was gingerbread house decorating day--a Christmas tradition in our home for over 22 years now. This year four of us decorated one gingerbread house. Originally the two girls in the house--myself and my youngest daughter--were going to share it. But today it turned into a project of four with dad and brother pitching in. We all got one side of the house.

Each side of the house depicts our personalities and our creativity. I found it intriguing as artists we are such perfectionists and our own worst critic. Each side of the house turned out great! But each one of us found something we didn't like in our creation, and something we liked better on another.

Like most things in life, we can use these feelings of inadequacy in one of two ways. We can become competitive and try to out-do the next person or we can appreciate the other person's creation and encourage them.

This made good food for thought. Yes, pun intended. Having been raised in a sports-driven house, it has been ingrained in me to be competitive. To try hard and to be better than others. For me, this transferred into a successful career in sales. But I have to ask myself is it healthy to be competitive as an artist?

As artists, designers, musicians, architects we should believe in our passion and stand by our art form. Should we strive to the best we can? Yes, of course! However, I also think that appreciating another person's talent as an artist should be celebrated and we should encourage each other, not try to be the winner.