About hand issues, Mindset and Herbal Witches

Dear Friends and Watchers

So it's finally time for me to write a journal.

I'm sorry for no posting for a longer while.

In  February i sadly couldn't draw cause of issues with my hand/arm. I thought it was cause of an overload of work like some time before.
But there it was only for 2-3 days and now i had it for weeks. I rested as best i could. And it's incredible how less you're able to do if you don't use your right arm.
But it doesn't became better.

2 years ago i wasn't sure if i had the right mindset for a living as an artist. I read so often that people draw 8-14 hours every day. And they get frustrated after they have some days off without drawing anything.
And what's with me?  I complained to have no motivation and concentration after 6 hours. And Days off  and no drawing are fantastic. Sometimes i didn't drew for weeks or even months.
That changed  when i started freelancing full-time last year. Before, I needed to handle 2 sometimes 3 side jobs and i was happy to have some freetime.
But even last year I had trouble with my motivation and concentration. I feared that maybe art is not my real passion even I loved it my whole life. Beside I somehow planed a career as an herbal witch.

And now where I'm unable to draw I realize how much I love it and that i really don't want to make another job except this
(maybe being a herbal witch is an option when i'm old cause you need this "old creepy woman" image for this).

After 3-4 weeks of rest and running scared cause maybe it isn't a one-off thing and i get it over and over
so I wasn't able to make a professional  art living with that, I happily found a very good doctor (before i went to another who couldn't help me out).
And -surprise- my hand wasn't the problem, the vertebras of my neck jumped out so my muscles get harded and pushed on my nerves.
1-2 weeks later and everything was nearly fine.

And here are some tips for people who have also problems with bracing and hand issues:

hurt points.    it's really helpful to find this points between your muscles and nerves that really hurts and push it for 1-2 min. Yes, that hurts but your muscles will relax after that.

Black Roll (mini) - my doctor recommended this to me. I use it every few hours. You need only to roll your hand/arm a few times about it and it helps a lot as well.

Mindset (this is really important) - I realized that my mindset was not guiltless on this. When ever i get wrist issues (for 1-3 days) I fucked up about me and my art before.Thoughts like: that's not good enough, I never can do this, this persons are so much better then I. So I never will became a good artist. Your Mind gets blocked, your hand clanches up and your muscles get hard. It's incredible important to be positive with you, your work....your whole life! Be good to yourself, believe to yourself and your abilities. Motivate yourself. If you can't.......take a break. Go outside, meet friends or take a nap.

My body needs his time and everything was slowly at the beginning and I needed a lot of breaks. But now i'm fully operational and 10hours of drawing are not a problem at all.
Also my motivation and concentration are quite better than before. Which was perhaps down to the fact that I bought a Daylight Lamp (that's really cool by side, first for my concentration and second for my plant growth. I never get a basil so long before).

Thinking back I would prefer to quit this long time-out, but after that I feel stronger and more focused than befor.

By the way I'm currently working on a cover for Ultima Ratio and I'm looking forward showing you the result. There is also more work for Lone Wolf to do and I have some character designs in my mind, wich are waiting to get drawn down. All in all I hope to have something to show next time.

Take care of you, stay positive have some good times