The solution to my fear of having my wings clipped once again was less of a lightbulb moment and more of a gradual turning up of the dimmer switch, until the answer was beautifully lit up in front of me. All it took was to connect the joy-filled dots in the following sequence of events (my little messages from the universe);

First, I discovered a wonderful artist on YouTube called Brooke Cormier who inspired me to start drawing and painting again. This brought me a lot of joy and helped me to deal with the burnout I experienced this summer through a daily sketching practice. 

Next, we spontaneously booked a couple of days in the Lake District - our happy place - to further aid my recovery and by chance we ended up staying a short walk from Beatrix Potter’s first home in the Lakes. It is now a National Trust property and, as Beatrix is one of my art heroes, I had to visit. I got really quite emotional walking through the front door; it felt like a very special place and I couldn’t hold back the tears. Seeing how her home and the surrounding village had inspired her work was very moving. It was an incredibly inspiring day out that started many cogs turning. 

Finally, a week after returning from the Lakes I found the key that unlocked everything through a video by one of my favourite contemporary artists, Jess Karp. In the video she shared her day out to a park near where she lives and how it inspired her to write and illustrate a beautiful story about a raccoon. The way she shared the process of creating her gorgeous illustrations and the story finally made my cogs click into place and gave me a version of the solution I had been trying to find. I was so ridiculously excited, here was my inspiration moment that I had been working so hard to find. One I had found through doing more of what makes me happy.