Better late than never!

So in 2023 I submitted another piece of my work to the IIW Welded art photographic exhibit. This digital collection highlights the UNs 17 SDGs. These sustainable development goals that the UN represents can be found through this link https://sdgs.un.org/goals

From where I sit all that everyone can do as an individual is what they can through their small conscious choices in their lives. If enough people make conscious choices and do the things that are possible within their world things will get better. These goals can be obtained but only if everyone starts to understand that the big picture is huge and we all can’t handle it individually. We have to deal with our daily lives and whatever we walk through and find what control we actually have, what we can contribute. It can be as simple as go for a walk and pick up some trash. Smile and say hello to someone on your way. Compliment a random stranger. Help a family that you know has food insecurities. But not through shame, through community and joy. Invite them to your home for a meal to connect and embrace time together. Understand that giving is for “The Giver” you give because you choose to give. There is no expectation to receive something back. Giving is not a contract. You can’t choose to help somebody who didn’t ask for it and expect something in return. Ideally you will receive gratitude in return but even still sometimes people cannot display the type of gratitude you’re specifically looking for. So for all of us to be able to help with these SDGs we have to take what we have and work with it.

Apply for that job that you believe is male or female dominated and step into the light that you can shine in that area. If that’s what you want…There are difficulties wherever. Do things that you like and want to do. The happier you make yourself, the easier it is for you to radiate a smile without even knowing it. Loving a career and place of work. Is still hard work but when it’s enjoyable it’s so much easier. Not to mention less mistakes are made because you are actively trying to create something for yourself on top of the positions expectations. Moreover, if something has become stale and it’s time to move on, to quote my buddy Paul Taylor “your toolbox has wheels”. Look at all the goodness that that position gave you. It’s on your resume for how many years? Depicting longevity and loyalty Or growth. It gave experiences to learn daily. It gave, opportunity to earn money to pay for the things that are require and wanted. It gave, some friendships that would have never been otherwise. It has provided the understanding that it’s okay to set boundaries and step out of an environment that no longer serves you.

Gone are the days where staying for 10 or 50 years in the same position occurs. Personally this is a good thing, because it will keep people looking for more and staying engaged. Better workmanship comes out of people who enjoy what they do and take pride in their work. So take pride and let your path fall upon you through the ebb and flow. For you are the engineer of your life. Life is a combination of choices. Choices of how you react to what’s in front of you. Choices of the opportunities that present themselves too.

Some may argue that there are people especially trades people who stay in their trade… That is absolutely true. They become a journeyperson in their prospective trade and they stay their entire career. This is not a suggestion that you are not what you have created yourself into. It’s a perspective that there are jobs that are cyclical and never change. It doesn’t mean you can’t still be that same type of mechanic or tradesperson, it means that you get to choose to move out of that cyclical plant and go to another one and learn a different application.

Trades are great examples of constant change of scenery without change of application. But it can create variety to keep someone growing and thriving. Take a union worker, once the jobs complete you get to start a brand new one whenever you get called back again. So the job is actually designed to constantly change even though a position might be the same there is lots of variety. Through your travels what else have you seen? Through your travels later in life how much of the infrastructure around you can you say, you had a hand in creating? Trades people get up in the wee hours of the morning to dangle from the Heights or Venture into the depths of underground or work with equipment that could bury a person to never be found. They do it because there is variety and fulfilment with huge Pride knowing that they have created a beautiful place in more then one space. For their home lives are just as much thriving with the same grace. Or at least that’s what I see coming from the veteran Tradesman who have literally built up the world around us. The craftsman who care are the ones who last. Where the discomfort and hatred of one’s position is what in turn Domino’s, mistakes, complacency towards potential accidents.

SO I say it now and I’ll say it again, find something that you love. No one can promise life being perfect to its definition because perfection doesn’t exist. There’s always a set of acceptance criteria to create the illusion of perfection. With that create your perfect life by your own set of acceptance criteria. Understand that, that criteria will house unpacking trauma and accepting the lessons learned through the path that you can’t control. Yet understanding your reactions and perspective creates that illusion of perfection. Perfection for you, because you are perfectly imperfect. Embrace your path. You only get to walk at once.

JEMI

Anyway without further ado, have a boo at the International Institute of welding’s 2023 Digital Collection Welded Art Photographic Exhibition-SDG.

Pages 69-71 are a few of my favourites but I’m biassed. Please check out the whole collection it is an honour to be showcased with all of these amazing artists.