637. Setting Up an Art Studio Wherever Her Job Took Her

Catherine Rains

On a particularly overwhelming work day, Catherine realized she must find some new way to relieve stress. She was convinced she did not have an artistic bone in her body, but she decided to try collage. After all, “Who can’t rip up paper and put it back together!”

Catherine Rains discovered her calling by creating her first collage to relieve stress. Later she took a one-week art class which led to quitting her day gig to manage a thriving art business. Her journey took an unexpected turn when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, leading her back to a day job. For the next 10 years, she traveled on her job with Myers-Briggs, creating almost no art. In 2015, she decided to integrate her job with her art by setting up an art studio for herself in every hotel she visited and created a ton of art as she traveled. On January 1, 2018, she returned full time to her greatest passion—ART.

How Did You Start Using Your Talents?

Before she even became aware of her artistic side, Catherine learned how to choose to be happy as she navigated her childhood with her mother, who suffered with schizophrenia. “Although she was not the mother I would have chosen, she was absolutely the mother I needed to become the person I became, because she motivated me to become the healthiest person I could be. There were some very hard times as I was growing up, but I am over-the-top grateful for having gone through it.”

The Most Impactful Turning Point?

Even as she accepted a position she loved at a major corporation, Catherine continued creating her collages, waiting for the right time to become a full-time artist. “I took a one-week art class, and it upped my game immediately. Suddenly, I was creating good-looking, polished collages. I sent a photocopy of a collage to a friend, who framed it and hung it on her office wall. Soon, one of her clients came into her office and offered to buy it. I sold her an archival print. I thought to myself, ‘Oh, my! Could I actually make a living selling my collages? Is that possible?’ That was a big turning point!”

The Most Powerful Lessons Learned?

“When I stop resisting where I am—even though where I am doesn’t look so good—that’s when everything opens up. A lot of people live in resistance all the time, because it seems logical to be resistant. Who wouldn’t resist certain jobs? They’re awful! But when we resist them, we’re basically telling our higher selves, ‘I actually like this. I want this.’ But if we keep saying, ‘I hate this,’ we’re setting it in stone and we stay stuck where we are. For me, everything has always shifted in a major way when I stop resisting, when I stop saying I hate my situation. Instead, I stop listening to that inner voice that says, ‘I hate this,’ and I just become present to where I am.”