Something I love about artists is that they recognize the power of choice.

Whether the art is writing, painting, music, filmmaking, visual, or otherwise, there is a power inherent in designing something, and that power can be summed up in that the artist has deliberately made a decision to choose one thing over another.

A book title lists “13 things one needs to know” instead of 12.

A song lyric uses the word “like” instead of “love.”

A painter picks red instead of blue.

From an outsider’s view, these things may seem trivial. But from an artist’s perspective, these choices are incredibly meaningful. In fact, they may actually be the most important thing, because without the power of choice, an artist wouldn’t be able to make art at all.

And so it is with all of us. We are all artists, painting our life’s canvas with the colors we choose. It’s just that we often think we’re not choosing, though we always are.

Sometimes we even believe we’re not true artists… which is perhaps the biggest lie of all.

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