Meet Riley Guardalabene

We recently connected with Riley Guardalabene and have shared our conversation below.

Riley, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

Passion. I love what I do and will continue to do it regardless of whatever level of success I reach. I was taught it’s more important to be happy than rich and successful, and that’s something I keep in mind when things don’t feel like they’re going entirely my way. It can be hard to hold onto that thought, but when I’m able to step outside myself I remember that tattooing has been my dream since I was a kid and I’ll do whatever it takes to keep it in my life.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I’m an artist born and raised in Portland, Oregon with a love of nature, nerd culture, and the occult. Those three broad interests have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, and help me cope with the struggles of my mental/physical health. Chronic illness is my constant companion, so I find escape in the forest or in front of the TV. My art’s inspiration comes from this refuge that encompasses all my favorite things to draw/tattoo.
My tattoo work is primarily black and grey in an illustrative style, but I do enjoy branching out with a bit of color or the more American traditional look. When I sit down with a client, I’m happiest when we find a common interest in a show, movie, video game, etc., or when we can commiserate over the struggles of being a person with a body that doesn’t work quite how it should. Passions are more exciting and pains are easier to bear when there’s someone to share them with.
At the end of the day I’m just happy to do my art, but it makes it so much more special when I get to share a connection with someone for a few hours.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Knowing myself and my boundaries:
Spend time alone, listen to your body and what it’s asking you for. Follow your interests but rest when you need to.

Needing to create/work with my hands:
Try everything, give every craft and trade that holds any space in your mind a shot. Something will stick and make the hours go by like minutes.

Being able to ask for help:
You can’t do/learn everything on your own without hitting a wall. To maintain yourself and keep growing, you need to face that fear of vulnerability, swallow your pride, and reach out for support.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

Starting and finishing tasks. I find it hard to get the momentum going on things, so I’ll just stare at unanswered emails, blank pages on Procreate, or piles of laundry until it’s eating me up and I just want to ignore it. When I do finally start these things I almost always reach a point where the flow state ends and I can’t get myself to the finish line.
Since this is a common symptom of ADHD, I take medication for it and have made it a goal to learn more about executive dysfunction this year; I love a good self help book. Aside from that I just try to allow myself breaks and take the tasks one baby step at a time, usually once I’ve started I can keep going for a while.
The most important thing to me though is giving myself grace and being okay with where I’m at in terms of functionality. Beating yourself up doesn’t make those undesirable traits go away!

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Cover photo of self by Dustin Demoret- dustindemoret.com

All other photos by me!

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