What happens to your goals when you feel spent?
When you feel completely zapped of all your energy and you realize there’s still so much left to cover?
Friday was July 3, day 3 of the 31 days 31 portraits challenge. I haven’t been able to log much about the progress since log one because I’ve been writing an article about the post Melissa youth resilience project.
On my way home from work that Friday evening, I stopped by the supermarkets to get a few snacks. Fast forward, I was the only person left in the cashier line, cashew nuts and chocolate milk on the cash counter and I breathed a heavy sigh. I saw the cashier gave me a side eye and flipped out,
“Oh nothing, I’m exhausted.”
And she said, “Oh and I understand.”
I looked at her and she continued, “I have to stand here all day and I don’t stop until eight.”
I say, “oh yeah? Well, when do you start?”
She said “I start at eight.”
So I say, “Wow well if it makes you feel any better when I go home I have a lot of work to do.”
And she adds, “And all that I have to do during the day remains on undone because by the time I get home and I start to cool down I fall asleep before I can hit the shower.”
And I looked at her again, “While I’m here complaining, I will just not do it again.”
She said, “Oh no don’t feel bad, you know everybody has their own share of problems.”
Gentle people, she didn’t know she touched my heart. I didn’t feel bad. She didn’t know that I was thinking I hope she gets paid well. I hope her dreams come true.
Oh my God gentle folks of my up building kingdom come if you’re an ambitious person welcome to “tired.com”. Except I don’t speak “tired energy” over us I speak “energy” over our lives. I pay my respects to the cashier who serves me at the counter, who starts at 8am and ends at 8pm.
While there is a world of people who actively believe in me and I am grateful, I pay my respects to the cashier I met yesterday. In honor of her hard work I will continue to pursue my dreams and aspirations before and after work. If she gets tired from working long hours, I will be her company somewhere in the world tired from working on my dreams. We shall be tired together for good things. My soul fulfilled!
I tell myself I am a universe of things to come, of things to unfold. And trust me, I will plant in myself beautiful things. You guys shall come here to find a garden. But when you come, water each other’s seeds, water each other’s plants. We must grow together beautifully.
I will always search the world and I will look and I will always find something beautiful worth carrying on for. As I would have shared before, I enjoy studying languages, I haven’t studied any all week. But I’ve published 3 blog posts and I’ve been drawing daily as I’ve committed to.
Days 1 to 4
Now let’s look at what I made over the past few days.
Day 1
Day one was the most difficult but the most satisfying. I do not enjoy recording my art so that part wasn’t enjoyable for me. I like to just work. However, I choose to so that others can see what I do. That way I can connect with persons who appreciate and support my work.
For me the sketch from day one is my ultimate favorite. I loved drawing her hair. I enjoyed drawing her nose, lips and eye bags. There is just so much going on emotionally in her face and it felt so good to capture that intensity.
Day 2
On day two I picked a very high contrast photo reference. I work with unnatural colors very well. It’s my default. So for the entire past few days I’ve been working with unnatural colors. Because when I choose them I feel as though I no longer have to think about what to do next to the point where it hurts or I become too hesitant.
Day 3
Day three was literally magic. I picked out a few random markers to express a photo reference of a beautiful black woman.
However, I didn’t expect that something so unplanned would capture the subjects skin tone. And that is something I hope to explain in my book.
Day 4
On day 4 I used acrylic markers. I chose a reference with a very sharp shadow and a somewhat foreshortened view. This was also very unplanned. My main goal is to produce more and document as I go along the way.
All my references are from Pinterest so far. You can follow my board on Pinterest, “31 days 31 portraits”. And you can draw with me.
However, for today and the next few days I will be choosing to draw random shots of beautiful artists I found on instagram while they were in the state of their essence. I’ve been doing a lot since the past few days so I didn’t get the chance to practice my languages.
Languages are really hard to digest once you’re tired. But guess what? Your goals and dreams will always be there once you’re alive. Pursue your dreams but take some rest. I didn’t get a chance to complete day 5. Let’s see if I can complete for yesterday and today.
As for the rest of this week let’s see what happens.
Log 2 July 6, 2026
Challenge: 31 Portraits in 31 days
Progress: Day 1 to 5
Goal: 31 Portraits
Current Status: Day 6
