How can something so beautiful be so dangerous?

One of my favorite things to photograph is a thick coat of ice drawing down from a tree branch — nature’s chandelier, delicate and crystalline. But of course, when branches sag and break and fall on power lines, everything gets complicated. 

Finding Beauty Everywhere

As many as 40 states are dealing with this weekend’s massive storm. The ability to find beauty in tragedy is a gift. We can’t always control our circumstances, but we can at least control our response to them. 

Pay Attention Now

The grocery store shelves are bare. It’s alarming to see people who weren’t paying attention to the storm warnings scramble at the last minute to find almost nothing left. It pays to pay attention.

Perspective Changes Everything

It makes me appreciate the life I have — the simplicity of life when groceries are there when we need them, when the heat in the house works and the electricity works. It reminds me that compared to people in war zones or famine zones, this little three-day outage doesn’t give us much to whine about. Others deal with this every day.

Change Is Possible

Not everyone in the world has the ability to lift themselves out of their circumstances, which is why I find it so puzzling that those of us who live in a place where anything is possible don’t make changes when we have the ability. Don’t like your life, your job? Simply change it.

It Starts Inside

“Well, Eric, it’s not that easy,” you say, and it’s true — I’m not walking in your shoes. I don’t know the intricacies of your circumstances. But I do know that it’s possible to change those circumstances with some thinking and some planning. Maybe it’s not instant, maybe it takes years, but change starts in your head. If you can change how you process information and how you think about things, you’ve taken the first step.

Different, Not Harder

“You don’t understand, Dad,” said one of my kids who was whining about something related to their circumstances. “Things are different now than when you were my age.”

And they’re right. In some ways things were better, and in some ways things were worse. I struggled to get into my dream radio job because I was competing with thousands of people. I didn’t have the benefit of the internet or email — I had to find ways to stand out when applying for jobs. What could I do to make myself different? What could I do to get a slight advantage over others? The answers come from the questions, and when you keep asking questions like that, answers always come when you least expect them.

Do What’s Required

The hard part, of course, is having things fall into place the way we hope they will. They rarely do.

Once I got tired of never having enough money, I had to do things I didn’t want to do to pull myself out of my circumstances. I had to work two other jobs, seven days a week — literally from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. every day, all weekend, every weekend, morning into late night, for a few years. 

Rather than telling myself how awful it was, I told myself how fortunate I was to have a brain good enough to come up with ways to pull myself out of my mess, get the income I needed, and eventually morph into a better career. While others would tell me they could never do it, my motivation to get out of my current circumstances was powerful. Almost anything painful and inconvenient was worth it.

Reframe the Struggle

And though I would not want to do it now, I would if I had to. I look back and tell myself the struggle was fun. I met lots of great people, I learned a lot, and I felt good about myself, doing what it takes.

Rich Versus Engaged

Success is sweet, no doubt. My late friend Norm Pattiz used to say, “I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. Rich is better.” Yes, he had a giant house in Hollywood, six or eight garages with every imaginable car, and an art collection most would envy. In his later years, he continually reinvented himself, he sold businesses, but he never retired. I believe he lived a rich life till the day he passed. He was intentional about not becoming a couch potato.

Yet others I know have also achieved great wealth. They have lots of stuff, but they’re bored, feel useless, and would probably give it all up if they could feel as engaged and invigorated as in earlier parts of their career.

Retirement’s Hidden Trap

Lots of friends who have retired want things both ways. They want something to do, they want to be relevant and engaged, but they don’t want to give up all that golf and sleeping in.

Reinvention Keeps Alive

Here’s what I’ve noticed: The people who stay alive — truly alive — are the ones who have mastered the art of reinvention.

Age Is Nothing

My mother-in-law is 92 and still gets up at 5 a.m. every day to paint. She didn’t start painting seriously until her 60s. Sixty. Think about that. Most people at 60 are calculating their retirement date. She was calculating which brushes to buy.

Starting Over Works

I didn’t discover painting until I was 38, after building a career in radio. Everyone thought I was insane to start over. “You’re going to do what? Learn to paint? Start a magazine about painting? You don’t even know how to paint!”

Exactly.

No Permission Required

The beautiful thing about reinvention is that you don’t need permission. You don’t need perfect circumstances. You don’t even need to know how it’s going to turn out. You just need to be willing to be terrible at something new.

Beginners See Differently

Because here’s the secret nobody tells you: Being a beginner is a superpower.

When you’re a beginner, you ask different questions. You see things the experts miss because they’ve stopped looking. You bring fresh energy to tired fields. You connect dots that nobody else thought to connect because you don’t know you’re not supposed to.

Multiple Lives Possible

I’ve reinvented myself at least four times now. Radio to publishing. Publishing to painting. Painting to teaching. Teaching to … well, we’ll see what’s next. Each time felt terrifying. Each time felt impossible. Each time people said, “But you’ve already succeeded at X, why would you risk it for Y?”

Stagnation Slowly Kills 

Because the opposite of reinvention isn’t stability. It’s stagnation.

And stagnation, my friends, is just a slow death with a paycheck.

Don’t Wait Forever

The storm outside reminds me that sometimes circumstances force reinvention on us. The ice breaks the branches whether we’re ready or not. The power goes out. The grocery shelves empty. Life doesn’t wait for us to feel prepared.

Break Your Branches

But what if we didn’t wait for the storm? What if we broke our own branches before the ice did?

Age Isn’t Real

What if 60 isn’t too old to start painting? What if 40 isn’t too late to change careers? What if 70 isn’t too advanced to learn something completely new?

Stories Stop Us

The only thing stopping most people from reinventing themselves isn’t age or circumstances or money or time. It’s the story they keep telling themselves about why they can’t.

Do It Scared

Here’s a better story: You’re not too old. You’re not too late. You’re not too stuck.

You’re just scared.

And that’s OK. Do it scared.

Beautiful and Dangerous

The ice is beautiful and dangerous at the same time. So is starting over. So is trying something new. So is admitting you’re not satisfied with the life you’re living and deciding to build a different one.

You Still Choose

The power might go out. The shelves might be empty. The branches might break.

But you? You get to choose what grows back in the spring.

Eric Rhoads

P.S. The ice storm will pass in a few days. But how many years will you let pass before you reinvent yourself? The branches that break in the storm will grow back stronger. The ones that never break just get heavier with ice until they snap under their own weight. Which would you rather be?
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P.P. S. I’m not a bragger, so when I say this, I say it to make a point — I’m not looking for attention. At my various events, retreats,​ conventions, and online programs, I’ve met hundreds of people who told me they reinvented themselves because I gave them the courage, challenged them, and provided the instruction to set them on their new course. Though we’ve exposed over 20 million people to painting, what if just 10 percent tried something new, took up painting, even though their heads told them they were not talented or capable? People tell me their lives are more rewarding since they took up painting. I’ve taught everyone from students to housewives to high-powered attorneys and heart surgeons. They all tell me it has changed their life.
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In almost every case I’ve heard of, they lacked belief that they had it in them, and they went for it anyway.
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If painting isn’t for you, I’m not gonna push it on you.
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Howard Stern, the radio host, took up painting. I sent him a bunch of our training videos. I saw some of his artwork, which was magnificent, but he gave up painting for guitar — I’m told because he felt he would never get that good at painting. I do both. Guitar is harder. No matter what your frustration, stick with it. You will overcome it. Success never comes until deep frustration sets in. It’s a signal.
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I know how to have fun. I get a bunch of my friends together, and we go painting, we attend classes to learn together, we hang out, we go to dinner, then we do more classes. We do that every day for five days. Wanna do it with us? It’s called the Plein Air Convention, this year in the centrally located Ozarks near Branson, Missouri. It’s an easy drive for most of America. But the price jumps up significantly on Valentine’s Day. Book your seat now at PleinAirConvention.com.
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This past week at Watercolor Live, the world’s largest online art training event, we had people from 18 countries, and we had a blast for four days. Eighty percent signed up for next year already — it was that good!