During a conversation with my therapist the other day, she said to me “you’re the type of person who likes challenges”. I was so taken aback by this statement, because I’ve always thought of myself as, if anything, a bit of an under-achiever. The way I see myself has been informed by 24 years of living, and many of those years with depression. So I was very flattered by this statement. It made me realize that I need to be able to see myself just as I am now, without getting bogged down by this outdated idea of who I am and am not. But when she said that, someone else popped into my brain- a certain alligator you may know…
Big Challenges
Big Challenges is a little alligator who was made by Sanrio in 1978 and hasn’t seen much action since. In recent years he’s popped up on the internet here and there, and recently made an appearance in Hello Kitty Island Adventure. It was 9/10 simply because of the word “challenges”, but this little guy presented himself at that very moment as a mascot for this new ideology. A commitment to seeing myself just as I am, with a new start every day.
There’s like no merch of Big Challenges out in the world, but when on the hunt I discovered this plate:
Lucky for me, I work at a ceramic studio, so I can make any plate I want for pretty cheap! So on Halloween I grabbed some Chipotle, when into work on my day off, and got painting.
I decided to go with a purple shceme on the lettering and linework, cause I can! Added a few stars for good measure. I loved the saying on the bottom of the original plate, so I added that as well:
”Everything starts with the spirit of adventure”
And a few days later, ta da! Big Challenges was out of the kiln and ready to come home. I decided to put him on my nightstand, so that every day when I wake up, I can take a look at him and remember that I TOO can handle big challenges. ♡
The end <3